Secret
by silverwolvesarecool
Summary: It is five days until Halloween. Barry is struggling to cope with the events following the giant worm hole incident a few months before. It doesn't help matters when murder victims start appearing with no suspects. The only clue is a strange message left at each crime scene. And apparently the only witness to them is a strange young girl who has more secrets than she lets on.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys :) This is a Halloween special! I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Disclaimer: Sort of based off the Young Justice episode _Secrets_ except I put my own twist on it. I don't own any of the Flash characters; they belong to DC comics and the CW. And I don't own Greta Haynes. **

**Warning: Takes place in October; many months after the giant vortex nearly swallowed Central City in the season finale. If you have not seen the last episode do not read beyond this point for there will be references to that episode.**

* * *

It was in the middle of fall; five days before Halloween. Bright orange lights were wrapped around the trees and multi-colored leaves skittered across the sidewalk; forming unique shapes that changed as the leaves danced around on the chilly wind. People with warm scarves wrapped around their neck walked past several shops that had their doors open; different smells pouring out from each one. Everyone seemed in a good mood despite the disaster that had happened several months before. But not everyone was in a good mood.

Jitters was packed. Young couples were seated at tables sipping steaming hot beverages and laughing and joking with each other. A tall young man stood at the counter looking up the menu behind the cash register. His brown eyes darted across the words rapidly reading the selections. No one would ever know who he really was in his current outfit. This is what Barry enjoyed the most; was the ability to go in public without people knowing his secret alter ego. Well...he used to enjoy it; that is until a few months ago.

"Hi Barry what can I get you?" the waitress smiled asked seeing him standing there, "Haven't seen you in a while."

Barry shrugged. He wasn't quite sure what to get. To be honest he had ordered every drink on the menu from Jitters; including the fattening ones.

"Could I get you a pumpkin pie coffee? It's our most popular drink right now and it is here only for this month," she said; her smile growing bigger.

"Sure I guess..." he said thinking that the name did not sound appetizing.

He withdrew his wallet from his jacket pocket to pay for the drink.

"And any pastries?" the waitress asked with a smile, "You seem to love them."

Barry must have held the world record for the most pastries bought. Seriously...he must have bought over two thousand dollars worth of pastries over the months after receiving his powers.

"Five scones then," he sighed remembering he had refuel after rescuing people from a capsizing boat a half an hour before hand.

The waitress nodded and walked off to prepare his order. Barry sighed and leaned against the counter. He really didn't know what he was doing here. It brought back memories of when Iris still got along with him and was not acting distant toward him (as well as him acting distant toward her). And it reminded him of the way things used to be, before the giant wormhole nearly swallowed Central City.

Barry shuttered remembering what had happened after he barely managed to stop it. He had blacked out and came to about an hour later, lying in the middle of the street. He had absolutely no idea how he had gotten there. His friends managed to find him covered in dust with a piece of concert imbedded in the ground next to him; within an inch of hitting him. Ronnie and Martin Stein told him they were unable to catch him as Firestorm; saying they were to far away and that they had to prevent falling debris from hitting any of the panicking bystanders. So he had no clue who had saved him from hitting the road and becoming less of a superhero and more of a grease mark.

"Here you go..." the waitress sang setting the coffee mug down with a small paper bag, "Nice and hot."

Barry gave her a small smile and gave her the money. She in turn gave him change back before he walked outside to enjoy his order outside. Not really wanting to talk to anyone or let anyone see him, Barry sat in the corner table which was facing the street. He watched as several people passed by before taking a cautious sip of the coffee. He was pleased to find that it tasted good and it seemed to erase his bad mood. It had a sharp/spicy background taste of pumpkin and apple.

Turning up his collar to block the wind Barry leaned back against his chair and started to slowly enjoy one of the scones he had ordered. It tasted sweet; with a hint of cinnamon and orange. He glanced around making sure no one was around before rushing to his lab and back within two seconds. In his hands he held a book which he had started reading the day before. Even though he could read at super speed he had trained himself to read slowly in order to enjoy the book longer.

"What's up Barry?" someone piped up.

Barry regretfully took his eyes off the paragraph he was on and looked up at Cisco who was standing in front of him with a grin on his face. He clutched the back of the chair in front of him so tight that his knuckles turned white and then red from the cold.

"Nothing..." Barry muttered turning to the next page in his book, "What do you want Cisco?"

He quickly found where he had left off and started to read again.

"Bro...stop moping. Its almost Halloween and just for once have a grin on your face," Cisco's smile shrank when his friend didn't respond, "Plus where have you been? You don't write...you don't text...heck you haven't raced over to S.T.A.R for over a month. What's wrong?"

Barry silently hoped his friend would understand why he really didn't feel like smiling at the given time or why he hadn't socialized for a while. He took a sip from his coffee without looking up from his book.

"Dude...I know what you are feeling like. We all feel the same way right now," Cisco sighed sitting down in the chair after about an uncomfortable minute had passed," But we have to move on."

"Try moving on when you are getting credit for saving the world..." Barry paused as he turned to another page in book before continuing, "When you weren't the one who did it. We all know Eddie was the real hero."

"Then what would Eddie be telling you right now?" Cisco asked.

"Um...you need me to get you a Psychologist, Allen?" Barry said dryly.

"No...err...well besides that I would think he would like you to honor him by not being gloomily like Oliver anymore..." Cisco looked around fearfully as if fearing that a green arrow would be whistling towards him, "And boy am I glad he was _not_ here to hear me say that."

For the first time in weeks Barry laughed. Cisco always had a way to cheer him up.

"Hey you two...can I join you?" Catlin asked walking up to them.

"What took you so long?" Cisco whined.

"My heel got stuck in the tiny hole on a man-hole cover..." Catlin scowled, "I called for you but you didn't respond. Some guy had to help me get it unstuck."

"Oops...sorry..." Cisco muttered.

Barry chuckled and closed the book down. He flattened the well worn cover before setting the book down on the table. Noticing that they were looking at the pastries curiously he decided to share them.

"Scones...I really am not that hungry right now..." he said pushing the plate of pastries towards his friends.

Cisco's hand darted out and grabbed the nearest scone before shoving at least half of it in his mouth.

"Um...I'll pass...I'm trying to watch my calories..." Catlin said.

She pushed the plate pack to Barry with her index finger. He shrugged and took the plate back; planning to save it for later.

"M till nat beef you–, " Cisco said spraying crumbs everywhere as he tried speaking with his mouth full.

His face resembled a chipmunk. Catlin looked at him with something close to disgust and amazement.

"What?" Barry asked trying to keep himself from cracking up.

"And how can you stuff that much food in your mouth?" Catlin added helpfully as she started brushing the crumbs off the table.

Cisco motioned that he needed something to drink so Barry quickly raced into Jitters and got him a cup of water. It was free so he wasn't stealing anything. Cisco swallowed some of the water. Catlin wrinkled her nose up in disgust as the mound of food made its way visibly down Cisco's throat.

"What were you saying? I couldn't understand you," Barry grinned as Cisco took several deep gulps of air; trying to catch his breath.

"I said...I still can't believe you survived that fall when stopping that wormhole, " his friend said with a cocky grin, "I still think someone or something caught you and left before we found you."

"Really? You are mentioning this again!?" Catlin sighed with exasperation.

"What?! I find it really cool!" Cisco smirked.

Barry shook his head. He still didn't remember much of what happened after the wormhole had closed. All he remembered was falling; the buildings rushing up on both sides of him. Then he heard some weird noise before something slammed into him; making him black out.

"Its doesn't really matter...the point is...I _didn't_ die..." he chuckled with some dark humor while taking one of the scones off the plate.

He ate it quickly deciding he was hungry after all as well as watching to see what his friends would say to his comment.

"If I recall Oliver said that if you ever did something that stupid again you were going to wished you had died..." Cisco snickered, "Oh boy...I was sure glad I wasn't on the receiving end of _that_ angry phone call."

Barry sighed and took the remaining scones off the plate. He wrapped them in a napkin and stuck it in his pocket before getting to his feet.

"I'm going to walk home...job has been slow lately so I decided to watch movies on Netflix..." he said sticking his hands in the pockets of his jacket, "I must have watched at least a hundred movies in one week."

He started walking off down the sidewalk away from Jitters knowing his friends would join him at some point.

"Caught up on the show _The Walking Dead_?" Cisco grinned bounding up to him.

Barry made a face, "That show sucks. Scale one to ten for zombie fiction I'd give it a two."

He really couldn't stand the show. Even the movie Ghost Busters was better than it (and that was saying a lot considering Cisco watched it twice almost every week).

"Finally someone agrees with me..." Catlin smirked coming up on his left side.

She and Barry laughed at Cisco's expression. As they continued down the street they heard voices pouring out of an alley way.

"Come on you chicken...just go in there and touch the back wall..." said a loud obnoxious boy's voice.

"But you know this alley is supposedly haunted Tony!" whined another, "Plus its trespassing."

"Err...no its not...," said another voice," But just to be safe...you go first."

"But I don't want to Steven..." whimpered the second.

"You're a chicken Tim...C-H-I-C-K-E-N!" snickered Tony's voice as well as making chicken noises.

Barry silently motioned for his friends to follow him. He stood at the entrance of the alley way and saw three boys standing there looking into it depths as if expecting something ugly to come charging at them. One was extremely tall and had red hair and the other two were short (one was shorter than the other though) and had black hair.

"Oh...I know about this..." Cisco whispered.

"About what?" Barry whispered back.

It seemed that Cisco knew a lot about the stupid dares that were currently going on in the city. Recently there had been a dare to have the Flash (aka. Barry) to 'rescue' one of the teenagers when they really didn't need help. That had ended badly after one teenager had injured himself by running into a lamp post when trying to get away from Barry (who was pretty peeved about being tricked again). But since then the dare had stopped (mostly because Barry had dropped an anonymous letter to the CCPD asking them to put a stop to it).

"Duh...the ghost dare," Cisco rolled his eyes, "Supposedly a girl was murdered here twelve years ago. They never found her body. So her ghost haunts the alley way looking for it and attacking anyone who wanders in. You are considered brave if you touch the back wall."

Barry gave him a shrewd look. That story was a bit far fetched and the dare itself was ridiculous. He knew magic existed (and he spoke from experience) but ghosts? That was a bit overkill. Even Oliver would agree with him.

"Teenagers are having their brains altered by those stupid horror movies..." Catlin muttered, "And apparently you have as well."

Barry watched as the smallest of the three boys (who must have been Tim) inch his way slowly down the alley way. His legs were shaking and he was whimpering. His friends were whispering and watching him nervously. Barry heard Cisco moving around behind him, suddenly. He turned to his friend and saw that he had pulled out his phone.

"What are you doing?" he whispered.

He hoped his friend wasn't planning to do something stupid or mean—such as banging on the trash cans or something—and video tape himself doing it.

"You are going to scare them and I am going to take a picture of it..." Cisco smirked, "I really need a new background on my computer."

He held his phone up in the boys' direction. The threesome still had not noticed them yet.

"And why would I want to scare them?" Barry asked dryly.

He really didn't want to scare the boys. Even though they were probably up to no good he really didn't want to have them get hurt in their haste to get out of the alleyway. Plus (even though he was mad when it happened) he felt bad about what happened to the last kid he scared.

"They _are_ in an alley way and they _could_ be up to no good..." Catlin offered stating Barry's thoughts, "Plus I recognize Steven. He egged my car about a month ago."

Cisco stared at her bug-eyed. He remembered how mad Catlin got when Dr. Wells/Eobard Thawne fell on her car and smashed it after the showdown between Barry, Oliver, And Ronnie/Martin Stein. If there was one thing you never wanted to do that was get Catlin angry. People tended to get hurt when she was angry. He and Barry knew from first hand accounts.

"So what do you expect me to do?" Barry scowled, "Run in there at super speed and knock all the trashcans over?"

Cisco opened his mouth to respond when a trashcan fell over in the alley way. Seconds after that the three teenagers came tearing out of the alley screaming bloody murder.

Tony who had turned as white as a sheet hollered —"G-g-g-ghost!" —as he ran past the three adults.

"SAVE YOURSELVES! AHHHHH!" Time screamed racing past them, "Where's the Flash where you need him?!"

Barry looked after them with an eyebrow raised. Did the kid just seriously ask for the Flash just because of a trashcan being knocked over?

" _Big deal_..." he thought but that was before someone shoved him hard from behind into the alley way. He stumbled and collided with an old fashion aluminum trash can. It spilled open sending smelly garbage everywhere. Barry threw his body weight so it hit the nearby brick wall, instead of the ground covered with trash.

"What the hell was that for?" he asked turning Cisco.

For good measure he gave his friend a dirty look (which he learned from Oliver) before steading himself on his two feet. He rubbed his shoulder which was stinging badly from the impact but grateful the pain would be gone in the next few seconds.

"If the ghost is here I want to take a picture of it," Cisco grinned holding up his phone, "Let's check by the trashcans in the back."

"You are crazy..." Catlin muttered, "Ghosts don't exist."

Feeling nervous now, Barry gulped and looked into the alley. It was completely deserted but there was an eerie feeling about it. Like they should not have been there. Suddenly the story did not seem as far fetched as it sounded.

He nervously took a step forward with Cisco at his side. Cisco was grinning like a kid in a candy store (or also if he were to see the 'Arrow' cave again) but Catlin who was standing several feet behind them was shaking visibly. She had gone pale. Perhaps she felt the same vibe Barry was feeling. They approached the overturn trash can (not the one that Barry had knocked over but the one that had scared the three boys). Something was rusting around in it. Catlin elbowed Barry in the side and used her eyes to indicate the message _move it_.

Barry made a face at her and walked ten feet ahead of his friends. He nudged the trashcan with his foot making a screeching noise as the metal scrapped against the asphalt. He leapt back in surprise when a scrawny black and white alley cat leapt out of the trash and tore down the alley yowling. Catlin let out a squeal of surprise and Cisco nearly dropped his phone. Despite his heart nearly beating out of his chest Barry let out a sigh of relief,

"Just a stupid cat."

Now he was getting jumpy. Ghosts didn't exist. He pinched his arm and thought, " _Ghosts don't exist Allen. Get ahold of yourself_."

It had to be a side effect of distancing himself away from his friends.

Cisco frowned and put his phone in his pocket, "A ghost cat perhaps?"

The bedraggled alley cat glared at him disdainfully from its perch on a nearby trashcan before leaping to the ground and skittering to the entrance. Catlin started laughing and Cisco joined in. Barry smiled and turned back to walk back to them when he felt a slight breeze hit him in the back. He ignored it.

" _Just a draft_..." he thought.

But that was until wind came again. Only it felt as if it were an icy finger. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He shivered and looked around.

The breeze started again this time it whistled through the alley. And then he heard the voice. It was that of a young girl.

"Secret..."

Barry jerked his head around trying to pinpoint the location of the voice. He had a feeling it was a kid hiding in the alley trying to scare him. Perhaps she was the one who knocked the trashcan over to scare the boys. Catlin and Cisco's voice were drowned out so all he could hear was the blood in his ears.

"Who's there?" he asked nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

"Who are you talking to?" Catlin asked.

"You guys didn't hear it?" Barry asked confused.

Now his radar was on high alert. Why didn't they hear the voice but he did? They were only standing five feet away from him. Unless he was just hearing things.

"Hear what?" Cisco asked with a short laugh.

"Secret..." the girl's voice came again.

The voice was mournful as it ricocheted off the graffiti covered walls. Barry felt goose bumps pop up on his arms as well as a strange sense. And he only recalled having it once. It had happened when he went against Tony Woodward; his childhood bully. It was the sense of fear.

So nope...he was defiantly not loosing it.

" _That_..." he said.

Catlin gave him a weird look but Barry ignored her.

Sensing that someone was watching he glanced down the alley and saw a young girl standing at the end of it who looked no older than fourteen. She had pale green eyes and a silver colored headband that held back her long blond hair that was nearly white in color. She had a white sweatshirt that looked sort of like a shawl on top of a black T-shirt and light blue stocking with white boots that came up to her knees. She also had a small silver colored charm around her neck. She stood there just watching them; a small frown on her face. She looked sad and lonely. But she also seemed hesitant to come any closer.

"Hey...what are you doing here?" he asked taking a step towards her.

The girl took a step back away from him and started running into another part of an alley. He groaned knowing he was going to have to go after her. Her parents could be worried. The alley way they were in was notorious for helping people get lost in it labyrinth of turns, corners and dead ends. Anyone could get stuck with no way out.

"Who are you talking..." Catlin started to say before Barry started running after the girl.

He chose not to use his full speed so his friends could follow him (as well as trying to keep his alter ego a secret). He lost sight of the girl when she turned a corner. He came to a stop and bit his bottom lip nervously. There were two separate paths leading in two different directions.

"Where did you go?" he asked himself.

Another prickle on the back of his neck made him turn to the right. The girl was standing there looking at him. Her face was emotionless. When he took a step toward her again, she took off running again. Barry followed the girl through a network of mazes the alley created; going deeper and deeper into the alley. The floor itself even changed as they ran toward an older section of the alley. It went from concrete to cobblestone. Behind him he heard Catlin and Cisco following. Catlin kept asking him what was wrong and Cisco was complaining about stubbing his foot on an uneven cobblestone but he didn't answer to either of them.

"Hey stop! Wait!" he called after the girl.

She stopped only a second to look at him. Her eyes radiated urgency and sadness; a strange combination. She also started to slow down allowing Barry to come within three feet of her. He saw the girl turn around another corner; her long blond hair flowing behind her. Turning the corner he was instantly hit with a bitter smell. He skidded to a stop; recognizing the smell as a dead body from all his years as a forensic scientist. He glanced around and discovered that the girl he was following had vanished. The alley way had ended in a dead end with no fire escapes exiting it. How could she have escaped?

But he spotted bump near the back of the alley after his eyes had adjusted to the semi-darkness. He cautiously walked up to it and found another girl; no older than thirteen...dead. Her neck was at an unnatural angle and she had a long red gash on her hand. Her brown eyes were wide open with fear. Feeling bile come to his throat Barry respectfully pushed her eyelids down out of respect.

Going into Forensic scientist mode he discovered she had not been dead long; a few hours at most. The strangest thing was she looked nothing like the kid he had been following. She had red hair instead of blond and green T-shirt instead of black. Plus she was shorter than the girl and younger.

Behind him he heard his friends run up; out of breath.

"Barry please explain what the hell is going..." Catlin cut herself off and caught sight of him crouched down by the body, "Oh God..."

"Someone call 911..." Barry said in a hollow voice.

Catlin nodded and pulled her phone out to dial the operator. Cisco on the other hand was staring at something above the girl's body.

"Um Barry?" he said in a scared voice.

Barry glanced at his friend. Cisco had gone absolutely white in the face.

"What is it Cisco?" he asked.

"Look..." his friend said pointing a shaky hand to the back of the alley.

Barry looked in that direction caught sight a message written on the wall above the body; written in black paint.

 _Five more days to all Hallows Eve_

 _And six more souls I shall take_

 _And soon my master's cell shall break_

 _All mortals must beware_

 _For that day will soon come here_

* * *

"Clearly the man who murdered this young girl was a psychopath..." Joe muttered.

It had taken the police quite a while to reach them. Barry never realized how far back he had followed the girl until Joe had told them.

"So Allen? Diagnosis?" Captain Singh asked.

"Um..." Barry pulled on latex gloves in order to further prevent contaminating the crime scene.

He shot Joe a silent 'thank you' for bringing his briefcase along. Because of that he was less likely to get yelled at or fired. Barry slowly and methodically examined the crime scene again. There really was not much to go by.

"She was murdered right here," he sighed, "No signs of tracks exiting away from the body. Her neck was snapped after she was stabbed in the hand; there seems to be a lot of blood missing. Judging by the marks the knife left I would say it was five inches long and two inches thick in diameter."

"Still doesn't explain why she is here..." Singh grunted, "Did she follow someone here willingly or..."

"No..." Barry lifted one of the girl's pale arms up, "See these marks?"

He pointed to several thin red burns in the girl's skin. His boss and Joe leaned into look.

"These are rope burns..." he said setting the girl's arm back down, "She probably was dragged here after being knocked out and tied up. No doubt she tried to escape."

He used a special kind of tape to extract oils from the girl's neck hoping he could at least extract some fingerprints. Barry got to his feet and watched as a police officer pulled a yellow tarp over the girl's body. Joe approached him and asked,

"Catlin told me you were following a girl. She led you to this body."

"Yeah...about that..." Barry nervously rubbed the back of his neck, "I um...sort of lost her."

Joe raised an eyebrow, "Catlin told me there was no one in front of you."

"I saw a girl alright? I'm not kidding..." Barry sighed.

He glanced at the entrance of the alley and saw the same kid standing there looking. She didn't say anything but was watching them. Police officers passed in front of her without giving any indication she was there.

"She's right there..." Barry pointed at her.

Joe looked and he frowned, "Are you feeling alright Barry? I don't see anyone standing there."

"But she was..." Barry cut himself off and looked.

The girl had vanished from sight. Was he just seeing things? Or was she a Speedster?

"You must be tired..." Joe decided, "Come on...let's get back to the house after you check the samples and I'll order you pizza. Tomorrow you should also work on the samples in case you cannot find anything today. I'll tell Singh."

Barry sighed and rubbed his nose, "Alright..."

As they left the crime scene he couldn't help but think that the girl who had lead him to the body knew who was responsible. Unfortunately in order to get the information; he was going to have to find her. But that didn't mean she could find him.

 **Yeah so...different from the episode. I thought it would be good; considering Halloween is coming up soon. Please R &R!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Another chap for you guys. :) I'm glad you are enjoying it so far. ;)**

* * *

Barry crossly threw his latex gloves in the trashcan before sitting down in the swivel chair in his room. Leaning back he counted all the individual scorch marks the lightning bolt had left behind (it _was_ still there even though it had been a year and a few months since the accident happened; he never got a chance to tell someone to repaint the ceiling but to be honest he really did not want to). He gave up once he counted hundred and sat up in his chair with a growl. Even after a full night's rest (after coming up with nothing the day before) he still could come up with zip today.

No DNA left from the murderer...at all. These were the worst kinds of murders; no DNA, no motive, no suspects, and no witnesses. He really hated them.

Well come to think of it there was a possible witness. That girl. But Barry had no idea who she was. She had vanished into thin air after showing him the victim. It could be a turning point in the investigation if he could find her and tell Joe.

"You ok son?"

Barry turned his head to see Joe standing at the entrance of his lab.

"Yeah...I'm ok Joe," he lied before saying truthfully, "Just frustrated."

"Can't blame you..." his adoptive father sighed sitting down in a chair across from him, "I know you really want to find out who murdered this girl."

Barry snorted sadly, "I'm still waiting for the processing of her DNA. Her parents are the ones I am worried about."

Joe sighed, "I'll make tell them if you are not up to it..."

Barry nodded slowly and turned when his computer beeped. He scooted his chair over to peer at the screen. After getting up the crime data base he said,

"Victim's name is Shelby Mendelsohn. Fourteen years old...Mom is single...father died when she was young. Has two siblings. That's all that is known about her."

"I'll get ready to go tell them..." Joe said patting him on the back, "Take it easy now. I'll tell Singh you've done what you could."

Barry nodded and got up to pack up his backpack. From the corner of his eye he saw something move. Startled he whirled around and saw the girl from the alley way.

"Can I help you?" he asked nervously

The girl said nothing but watched him. She didn't move and stayed perfectly still. Unnaturally still. It was pretty scary.

"What's your name?" Barry asked finally.

"Secret..." she said softly.

Was this some kind of a joke to her?

He rolled his eyes, "Ok really kid...what's your name?"

The girl didn't answer but frowned slightly. She used her right hand to motion him to follow her.

"You want to show me something?" he sighed before saying hopefully (in a sarcastic tone), "Like maybe the man who murdered that girl?"

The girl didn't answer but continued to motion for him to follow her. He sighed and hefted his backpack (which had his suit stored in it). Clearly she wasn't going to leave him alone until he followed her.

"Alright I'm coming..." he said begrudgingly.

Good thing Oliver was not here. He probably would say Barry was careless in following a girl he didn't know. But strangely he didn't feel threatened by her. She had a calming yet urgent presence around her.

On his way out of the lab, Barry bumped into Joe who gave no indication he noticed the girl. He (Barry) blinked noticing she was standing at the end of the hallway that led down to the main part of the station. How did she get there so fast?

"Ready to leave already?" Joe asked surprised.

"Not really...the kid I saw in the alley way is here...she seems to be wanting to show me something..." Barry said pointing at her.

She was watching both of them with a sad expression on her face and looked away from Barry as if he disappointed her. It was really strange for her to have that expression on her face. She never seemed to smile.

"What kid?" Joe asked creasing his brow, "Are you seeing things again?"

"No! She's right..." Barry cut himself off seeing that the girl had vanished...again.

He bit back a growl of frustration. What was it with this kid? Why did she keep disappearing?

"Maybe you should lie down when you get home..." Joe cautioned eyeing his adoptive son warily, "We'll go once I get my jacket."

He left Barry standing in the alleyway. Sighing Barry walked back in his room to make sure his computer was turned off. But once he stepped in the room it felt as if it had turned into a freezer. In fact it was so cold he could see his breath which was weird considering the hallway felt twenty degrees warmer. Shivering he walked over to the computer and found it was off.

He frowned; knowing he had not turned it off before he left the room. Resting his hands on the keyboard he surprised to find that some of the keys were colder than the other keys. Something strange was going on...and he didn't know what was but he intended to find out.

Call it a gut instinct but something told him that he should go with a Joe. He didn't know who or what made him change his mind but he decided to go with it.

"Ready?" Joe asked stepping into the room before frowning, "Why is it so cold in here?"

He shivered letting Barry know he was not just feeling things.

"Yeah I'm ready to go...," Barry answered picking up his favorite jacket, "But I want to come with you when you tell the family. I-I-I just want to check something with them."

Joe raised an eyebrow but didn't question Barry's reason.

* * *

Barry stood uncomfortably behind Joe when they approached the front door of the Mendelsohn's. He was sad that they would have to deliver such bad news to the girl's mom. Joe knocked on the door and rang the doorbell. It rang throughout the house with a high pitched chime.

A patter of feet approached the door and it opened. A small face peered from around the door. It was a little girl with short curly red hair surrounding her face with a spray of freckles on her cheeks;perhaps five years old holding an orange and white striped tabby cat in her arms. The lower part of the cat's body nearly touched the ground and its front legs were up in the air as if it were surrendering*. It was so comical looking Barry had to cough to hide his laughter. Despite its head being scrunched down in a uncomfortable looking position it looked rather relaxed in its current state. It eyed the men in front of it with a bored expression in its green eyes and its tail twitched slightly.

"Who are you?" the little girl asked shifting her arm to stick her thumb in her mouth.

Joe glanced back at Barry who took a step back and spread his arms out to send the silent message _'You take this one'_. He really shouldn't be the one telling the kid anything (except maybe it was not a good idea to open the door to strangers).

"Is your mommy home?" Joe asked bending down to the girl's level.

"She works all hours..." the little girl drawled hefting the cat into a more comfortable position to suck on her thumb.

The cat slipped back down into its original position; limp as a rag doll. Barry smirked knowing Cisco would be snapping a photo of the animal and posting it.

"Beatrice? Beatrice?"

A thin arm suddenly yanked the girl back. Joe got to his feet as another kid appeared on the scene. A boy who was at least ten yanked the little girl back and planted himself in front of her. It had to have been her brother since he had the same shade of hair that she did except his eyes were green. He blocked the doorway to prevent them from walking in. Barry noticed that he was holding an aluminum baseball bat in his free hand.

"Who are you?" the boy asked his voice heavy with suspicion.

He tightened his grip around the baseball bat. Barry shuttered remembering the time he to answer a call to a house that had been broken into. After knocking the robber out he went upstairs to check on the kid that had been made the call. Long story short he nearly got brained by the metal baseball bat the kid was holding. She later apologized but it still did not help sooth the good size lump he received on his shoulder.

"I'm Detective Joe West and this is Barry Allen," Joe said gesturing at Barry.

Barry raised his hand in greeting and awkwardly shifted his weight from one foot to the other when he saw Beatrice peering around her brother at him. She beamed at him making him give her a weak smile in return.

"What do you want?" the boy's voice sounded more worried than suspicious this time.

Beatrice tried scooting around her brother again but dropped the cat in her arms in the process. The animal hit the ground like a sack of cement and started to move away until the little girl picked him up again. Barry laughed quietly about the bad luck the animal had. It was too funny.

"We would like to talk to your mom..." Joe said glaring at him.

Barry had to bite his bottom lip in order to stop the laughter from spilling out.

The boy nodded and shouted into the house, "MOM! COPS ARE HERE! THEY SAID THEY NEED TO TALK TO YOU!"

Beatrice scrunched her face up in annoyance at the loudness of her brother's voice.

"Should I tell him I'm not a cop?" Barry muttered under his breath.

He really wasn't...even in his alter ego.

"Let it go..." Joe advised.

"She'll be here in a minute..." the boy said dropping the baseball bat on the table next to him before turning to his little sister with a frown, "Bea...let Luka down...I'm pretty sure he doesn't like that position."

The little girl pouted and hefted the cat in higher position. The cat let out a mournful meow prompting Beatrice to let him down begrudgingly. The cat took the opening and fled into the house with his tail in the air.

"Samuel...what have I told you about opening the door to strangers?" a woman came rushing up in a blue dress.

The boy shrugged with one shoulder, "Bea did it."

"Did not Sammy!" Beatrice whined sticking her tongue out at her older brother.

The woman shook her head and turned to Joe and Barry.

"I'm sorry but can I help you?" she said closing the door slightly.

"Yes um..." Joe sighed.

"Name's Maria..." the woman said.

Her hand tightened on the door.

"Its about your daughter...Shelby..." Joe started.

" _Here it comes..._ " Barry thought scratching the back of his head nervously.

The woman's face hardened and she turned to her kids and said in a low voice, "Sam...Beatrice...go to your rooms."

"But I want to stay!" Beatrice whined.

"Come on Bea...I'll let you look at my trading cards," Sam promised, "I'll even let you look at the picture I have of the Arrow my friend got me."

Beatrice clearly did not look happy about it but left with her brother. Barry smirked quietly knowing that Oliver would probably be peeved about the photograph if he found out about it.

Maria turned back to them, "Come in..."

* * *

The woman took the news surprisingly well. But Barry could see that she was trembling. He stood awkwardly by the door entering the living room while Luka wound himself around his legs meowing. The cat left in disgust once he realized Barry was completely ignoring him. He bounded over to Maria and asked to be stroked. She complied.

"I can't believe Shelby is gone..." Maria said; her voice quivering.

Luka - perhaps sensing his owners anxiety- butted his head into her armpit.

"Don't worry...we'll find him," Joe promised putting his hand on her shoulder to console her.

His cellphone rang and he left to answer it. Maria looked at Barry curiously,

"You are the one who found her body?"

Barry nervously scratched the back of his neck as he approached her, "Yeah...I'm sorry that I have to bring the bad news."

Maria nodded slowly, "But I can't believe you found her though. It goes to show you that what you have is not permanent...it can disappear in a split second."

Her tone was bitter as Barry sat down in a chair across from her.

"What makes you say that?" he asked flinching when Luka jumped onto the chair and started to rub himself against his back.

"It was just something a friend of mine used to say...," Maria sighed, "I used to tutor a girl when I was in my early twenties...which was twelve years ago. Her name was Madison Revues. She had a friend that she was very close to. They were just like sisters even though they looked different from each other."

She shook her head and snorted sadly, "Then Madison came to me one day crying and saying her friend had disappeared. The police never found her and said that she had run off. I met her friend once...she was such a pretty girl. Beautiful long blond hair and green eyes."

"What was her friend's name?" Barry asked pricking his ears up.

That sounded exactly like the girl he had been seeing.

"Her friend's name was..." the woman started to say.

Joe walked in just then and said, "I'm sorry Bear...I know you need to get home and rest again but...there has been another murder."

* * *

Barry closed his briefcase with a snap and rubbed his face while emitting a loud yawn. He had taken samples from the body which had been found in the back lot of a industrial building hidden behind a stack of wood. The victim was an older female; twenty at least. Same injuries to the body; broken neck and nasty gash on the arm. This time there was no sign of a struggle or rope burns on the arms.

"So what did the person have to say about this?" Barry asked turning to Joe when he walked up to him.

Behind him stood a tall man wearing a construction worker's hat. He shuffled around nervously.

Joe inspected his notes thoughtfully, "Said that he found her back here about half-an hour ago. Did not see anyone of interest exiting or entering the building."

"Why was there a blanket covering her?" Barry asked, "Usually they put a sheet on a victim."

When he had walked up a tattered dark red blanket was covering the body instead of the usual yellow tarp. Though he found it strange Barry still went to work analyzing the crime scene.

"I-I-I covered her..." the construction worker said.

He bit his lower lip to keep it from quivering. Barry could see he was on the verge of a mental breakdown and/or tears.

"Why?" Joe asked turning to the worker.

The man fidgeted nervously for a moment, "I-I-I-I have a daughter at home sir. I couldn't bare to see her looking like that. If she was my daughter I would have done the exact same thing. I was crying as I made the call. This lady was too young to be killed."

Barry nodded understanding what he meant. He felt the exact same way except for one difference; he felt useless. He gazed down at the yellow tarp which was now covering the body and thought " _Well this is just great_ _...how many more of these murders are going to happen? I really wish I could help as the Flash...but how can I help when I don't know where the next one is and who the next victim might be."_

"How did you find her?" Joe asked.

Barry looked up to listen. In the background he heard the ambulance pull up.

The construction worker scratched his beard before answering, "There was some kid back here. She looked about fourteen. I followed her trying to catch her to get her out of here. Instead I found the body."

Barry inspected the ground at his feet. His brain was whirling. He barely heard the man describe the girl's features to Joe.

"Did you see where this girl went?" Barry asked picking his head up interrupting Joe in mid-sentence.

"No..., "the construction worker sighed wearily, "She disappeared as soon as I found the body."

Before Barry or Joe could say anything they got interrupted.

"Joe...you have to take a look at this..." an officer by the name of John said walking up.

Barry and Joe followed him over to another area a couple of feet away from the body. Another message was scrawled there; this time in red paint which dripped down the wall like blood as it dried.

 _Four more days to Halloween_

 _And five more souls I shall take_

 _All mortals now shall quake_

 _For my master will come on Hallow's Eve_

 _When day and night shall break_

* * *

"Barry...for the last time. You were not following anyone," Catlin sighed.

"I was! It was some kid...maybe about fourteen years old," Barry grumbled, "Plus someone else saw her."

He nervously tapped a pen on the table in his lab slightly annoyed that Joe had called his two friends in. It was not like he was going crazy or anything because he _was not_! He looked down, frowned, and stopped tapping the pen when he noticed that the table was starting to smoke where he was hitting it.

"Either you are just seeing things or the light is playing a trick on you..." Cisco mused while fooling around with a bottle full of copper sulfate, "Or you are going crazy on us."

Barry crossly snatched the bottle out of his hands before his friend could drop it and stuck it back on the shelf as far away from the sodium hydroxide as possible, "No! I am not going crazy. Maybe I should take a picture so you guys don't think I'm going nuts."

Irritated he started reorganizing his chemical shelf even though it was already well organized.

"We're not saying you are crazy..." Catlin said cautiously while throwing Cisco a dirty look, "We are just saying that no one except us was in that alley. I don't remember hearing any voices either."

Barry didn't respond but sourly started on cleaning up his work desk at a normal person's speed. He hoped his friends would get the point that he was not lying and was not loosing it.

"Bro...seriously? The cold shoulder?" Cisco said dryly.

"I know what I saw..." Barry said bitterly stacking some unfiled sick leave forms together, "This is exactly what the police were like the night my mom was murdered. They didn't believe me...but you guys did after you saw what I could do. So why won't you believe me on this one?"

His friends didn't respond. It became so quiet in the lab that all Barry could hear was the traffic on the street in front of the police station.

"Look...unless you have some logical proof that she was actually there then...maybe it is possible you saw her," Catlin said after several uncomfortable minutes had passed, "Maybe she's a meta-human. You did just tell us she has a way of disappearing quickly."

"Yeah...but want to know what irritates me? I apparently am the only one who can see her!" Barry grumbled plopping a couple of his favorite books down on the desk to flatten the papers.

"Barry..." Catlin started.

He bent over his computer with a sigh, "I need to be alone right now...please."

Barry closed his eyes and bent his head down. He heard his friends leave his room but did not look up until several minutes had passed. Retrieving his suitcase of samples he started to analyze the evidence from the murder scene.

It had the same exact results as the last murder...no DNA left behind from the murder. With a growl of disgust Barry wadded up his latex gloves and tossed them into the trash can but missed. After picking them up he sat down in his chair and rubbed his forehead with a groan.

" _As if my life could not get worse..._ " he thought, " _Now my friends think I'm going crazy and even I am starting to think I'm loosing it._ "

Leaning back in it Barry recalled something Shelby's mother said. That a girl she used to tutor had a friend matching the description of the girl he kept seeing. Not really sure about what he was doing Barry pulled up crime data base and found that Madison worked at Jitters. After putting his jacket on he left hoping that she might have the answers he was looking for.

* * *

 **This story should last until about Halloween I think :/**

 ***- My little cousin held a cat like this once XD Poor thing...**

 **Shout outs to my readers without an account :)**

 **Writergirl101: Thank you :) I hope you continue to enjoy it.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Yeah so I changed a lot of things...but I really don't own any one except Greta's 'friend'. Please enjoy :)**

 **And head's up...Madison will not be playing a big role in the story unless you want her to. Please tell if you think she should.**

 **Disclaimer: I own none of the characters.**

* * *

"So what does this recent murder have to do with me?" Madison asked suspiciously as she pulled up a chair in front of Barry, "Because I'm pretty sure I have a rock solid alibi. I was in my attic cleaning out the damn thing when the most recent murder happened."

It had taken the woman a lot of convincing to sit down to have this discussion. Only after Rachel (a waitress who knew Barry) stepped did she begrudgingly agree to answer his questions. By her given attitude at the current time he began to think he made a mistake.

He hated to compare her to being 'cold and off-putting' but she defiantly was; just like Oliver.

Barry sighed, "Look...I am not saying you are a suspect or anything...it's just..."

He cut himself off wondering if what he was going to dig a bigger hole the more he kept talking.

"It's just what?" Madison asked arching an eyebrow.

"It's nothing...I'm sorry I wasted your time..." Barry got up partly but Madison grabbed his arm.

Glancing down at her he could see she had a hopeful glimpse in her eyes.

"Is it about that girl that construction worker supposedly said led him to the scene of the murder?" Madison asked.

"H-H-H-How did you know?" Barry asked stuttering.

He sat down and was satisfied that the woman was to finally talk after about ten minutes of hostility.

"Um...I'm friends with him..." Madison said releasing him, "He used to go my grade school so we keep in touch since I babysit his young daughter on weekends."

"Oh..." Barry said before shaking his head, "Anyways...I met your old tutor Maria. And she mentioned you had a friend that...um...disappeared about twelve years back."

"And what does my missing friend have to do with this?" Madison asked dryly.

"We might have found some leads on where she is with some evidence from these two cases..." Barry lied.

Madison sat back and looked at her hands in her lap. She was very quiet.

" _Smooth move Allen_ ," he thought, " _You just lied. Well come to think of it you have been lying for over a year to your boss but this is different. Maybe the girl I'm seeing isn't her friend. Maybe its some random kid that just so happens to be a Meta-human that loves the word 'Secret' and disappearing. Oh and not to mention she is far too young."_

He sat in the chair uncomfortably and watched as Madison didn't move. Even though he tried to keep his mind on the current situation it was quite boring to sit there. Eventually he settled on reciting all the times tables in his head. Since his mind moved faster than any normal person he got to the thousandths times table before Madison finally decided to start talking.

"I hope you found a lead...I've been waiting for this day for years..." the woman said looking up at him and frowning, "Um...why are you grimacing?"

Barry shook off the daze he had fallen into silently cursing that he had lost track of time. It had been fifteen minutes but it seemed to have passed quicker than that.

"Sorry...just err...zooned out there. So...um...what happened exactly?" Barry asked.

Madison eyed him cautiously before asking, "What do you mean by _'What happened?'_ "

Her voice had its sharp and suspicious tone return.

"I mean...how did your friend..." Barry paused trying to think of a sentence that would not put more suspicion into the woman's mind, "disappear?"

Madison sighed before answering, "I don't know. I just know that one day...she did not come to school. I called her later on that day because in all the years before I never remembered seeing her not come to school. She was a straight A student and never liked missing school. And she always called me when she was going to be late or something."

"And did she pick up?" Barry asked patiently even though he already knew the answer.

The woman frowned, "She...she...she didn't. No one did. After three days passed without her showing up at school even my mother grew worried. She...ah...called the police and filed a missing person report. They didn't find anything and decided she had run away."

"From what I heard you don't believe that," Barr responded in a low tone.

Madison nodded before her face twisted into a sneer, "I have a feeling her ass of a..."

She cut herself off before finishing. Her eyes took on a look of fear.

"Who are you talking about?"

But no matter how many times Barry asked her Madison did not respond. It was if her face had been carved from stone. Her silence would have even impressed Oliver.

Giving up Barry decided to ask, "What is your friend's name?"

"Greta...Greta Haynes," Madison responded.

She glanced up at the clock on the wall and sighed.

"I'm sorry I have to cut this discussion off but I really need to get back to work before my boss kills me," she got to her as she spoke, "Nice chatting with you."

Then she left. Barry bowed his head down and inspected the ground glumly. He knew less than when he had started out for the café. But at least he had one new piece of information. A name.

"So your name is Greta..." he muttered so quietly so only he heard it, "Ok then...lets see what you know about these murders...that is if I can find you."

Then he smiled slightly, "Or if the Flash can."

* * *

"Can't believe you finally decided to work with us again..." Cisco said dryly as he sipped from a giant cup full of soda, "Oh and not to mention you decided to finally bring me as backup."

He and Barry were walking down the streets of Central City not particularly going anywhere. It was the day after his (really not helpful) discussion with 'Greta's friend'. Along the way Barry had explained everything to him but got nothing but teasing remarks. It was really getting out of hand.

"Shut up..." Barry muttered.

He crammed his hands deep into his pockets and walked briskly ahead of his friend. Catlin was else where so the only one willing to accompany him was Cisco. Joe was giving him a wide berth and his boss...well the less said about him the better.

"So let me get this straight...you are trying to find this random girl who may or may not be a Metahuman," Cisco said with a teasing smirk, "Because she might give some insight to these mysterious murders?"

Barry turned his head and scowled at him, "Did you seriously not listen to the phone message I left you?"

"I'm pretty sure a message with a whole lot of insults attached to it counts as a message worth listening to..." Cisco scowled back while taking a long sip from his cup.

He pulled phone and played it. Most of it was in a different language. He gave a smirk as he put the phone away.

"What? I didn't leave that message," Barry said confused, "I can't speak Spanish. You should know that! I never took a language class in college. I was more interested in the Chemistry, Physics and Forensics.

Now Cisco's face changed to confusion, "You didn't?"

He pulled his phone out again and inspected it. After a few minutes he put it away and grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry Barry...it was my jerk of a brother. He seemed pretty mad about something I'm pretty sure I was not responsible for causing."

"What did he blame you for this time?" Barry asked, "From what I heard about him I'm sure I would have to restrain myself from calling Oliver to shoot an arrow at him."

"That would make my day if you would do that..." Cisco chuckled, "Anyways he managed to blow up my parents' entire kitchen by accidently igniting my old chemistry set."

"How could he possibly make that blow up if it was in your old room?" Barry asked.

"Apparently my mom decided to place onto of a shelf above the stove..." Cisco said sourly, "Then Dante decided to cook chili that turned into a ball of fire which in turn ignited the chemistry set creating a miniature explosion that blew out all the windows and cracked a giant hole in the ceiling."

Barry couldn't help but laugh. He got the perfect image in his head of what happened.

"And before you ask no one got hurt..." Cisco said seriously before his face cracked into a smirk, "At least my brother got in trouble for something...for once."

Barry chuckled before he glanced up and noticed they had arrived at their destination. He had looked up Greta on Felicity's facial recognition software but only found her home address available. There were no photos of the girl; which was very odd. It was as if it had been erased from cyber space.

"We are here..." he said calmly.

He and Cisco glanced up at the old dilapidated house that sat on the corner of the street. A bleached FOR SALE sign was stuck out front. All the windows were boarded up and the roof was missing several shingles. The wooden door was a little more than splinters and Barry was pretty sure he saw a bat fly out of the chimney.

"Well this looks cheerful..." Cisco said jokingly, "Who would want to live here?"

In response one of the shutters fell off. Both men cautiously approached the house. Barry hesitantly placed his foot on the front porch and winced when it emitted a screeching noise. It sounded way worse than nails on chalkboard.

"Try the door..." Cisco whispered glancing back at the street.

Barry rolled his eyes and tried the splintered door. It would not budge. With a sigh of annoyance he vibrated his hand enough to vibrate the door handle off. The battered handle fell with a clatter to the ground steaming slightly from the chilly air.

"Should we knock?" he asked.

Cisco smirked in response and pushed the door open. It opened with a low creak. Barry stepped into the house and saw that the floor was covered in dust. A cloud of it had billowed up when he had disturbed it and it went up their noses. Cisco emitted a deafening sneeze so powerful it knocked him right into the wall behind him. Barry on the other hand started coughing violently.

"I...-cough- don't know...-cough- who got...-cough- the -cough-...better end -cough, cough- of the deal..." he wheezed as tears ran down his face, "You -cough- or I -cough-."

Even super speed could not stop the dust particles from tickling his throat. It felt like he had swallowed sandpaper.

"I think...-ah choo- you did..." Cisco sniffed getting to his feet while rubbing his head, "To add to the...-ah...ah...ah...choo- damn sneezing I also have a headache! I can't believe I let you talk...ah...ah...ah choo! -sniff- into this even though- ah choo- breaking into a spooky house three days before...ah choo! Halloween is also something I wanted to-to-to -ah choo- do...-sniff-."

Barry eventually had to create a vacuum to spare them from anymore sneezing and coughing. Now that the place had been aired out and tears had stopped running down his face he managed to get a decent look to at the room. There were a few chairs that were covered in white plastic and antique Grandfather clock that sat on the side. It's hands were frozen on the time 9:52 on the cracked surface.

"Where to now?" Cisco asked rubbing his nose crossly.

Barry rested his eyes on a staircase that was broken in several places led up to the second story. It did not look safe at all to walk on but that was not a problem considering he was pretty quick on his feet.

"Lets try upstairs..." he suggested.

In order to prevent themselves from further destroying the stairs Barry raced up the stair well with Cisco. This caused another disturbance of dust (as a result of the wind he gave off) but having learned their lesson the first time both men held their breaths until the dust settled. There was a long narrow hallway on the top of the stair with two rooms on the ends of it.

"Ok...you check the room down that way..." Barry breathed pointing to a room on the left, "And I'll take the other one."

"Roger that..." Cisco grinned giving a mock salute.

Barry gave him a pained look before walking down the hall. He discovered another room on the side of the wall of the hallway but it was nothing but a bathroom with a rust stained shower. He tried the faucet but nothing came out but a spider.

" _No one has lived here for years..._ " he realized.

Stepping out of the restroom into the hallway he shivered. The temperature had dropped again; by at least thirty degrees.

" _Old house...old chills_ ," he thought with a nervous chuckle, " _Don't act so paranoid Allen. You've faced scarier things than an old house._ "

Still he could not help but feel unnerved as he continued his way down to the room at the end. Reaching it he discovered it's door was slightly ajar. He cautiously opened it and found with great surprise a room that was neat and nearly untouched by dust. A small poster bed lay off to the side with a small desk on the left side of it and a closet in front of it. A shaded desk lamp sat on the wooden desk. Glancing back toward the bed he found a small framed photograph lying on the pillow. Taking latex gloves out his jacket pocket Barry carefully picked it up. Unlike the rest of the room the framed photograph had a layer an inch thick of gray dust on it.

He brushed it off trying not to gag at the dust bunnies that floated to the ground. When he had it semi-clean he held it toward a small beam of light that was coming through the boarded window. What he found surprised him.

It was a photo of a young girl and a tall young man. The girl had the taller man's arm wrapped around her lovingly and both gazed into the unknown photographer with big grins on their faces. The girl had long blond hair and twinkling green eyes and the tall man had the same color eyes as her and shaggy brown hair that went down to his shoulders.

Barry was so engrossed in processing the photo that he nearly tossed it into the air when an icy hand was placed on his shoulder. Angry and with his hear pounding her whirled around to confront his friend.

"What the hell Cisco!? You seriously could not resist scaring the crap..." his words died when he found it was someone other than Cisco who had touched him.

It was the young girl that he kept seeing. Even though her head was hidden by a hood from her strange looking sweatshirt Barry still knew it was her.

"Greta...um...Hayes?" he asked nervously.

The girl lifted her head up and pulled her hood off but did not reply. But her light green eyes glimmered with recognition of her name. As his eyes flickered between her and the photograph Barry noticed something really strange. Her hair was paler than it was in the photo and so were her eyes; as if both of them had been bleached. But the strangest thing was how young she still was; within logical reason she should have been the same age as him which was twenty six.

"How are you...um...still fourteen? You should be the same age I am..." Barry said quietly as not to alert Cisco.

He carefully sat the photograph down on the bed.

"Secret..." Greta whispered softly.

Barry threw up his hands in exasperation, "Right...is that your response to everything?"

The girl bit her lip and looked away from him. She shivered slightly for a moment; either from fear or tears or...perhaps something else.

"Sorry...I didn't mean to snap at you..." Barry apologized.

He reached out a hand to console her but she stepped away from him and shook her head. She bowed her head down and cocked her head as if she were listening to something. Barry strained his ears and heard Cisco in the other room cursing about the amount of dust that was covering everything.

"Alright then...apparently you don't like people touching you..." he muttered dropping his hand to his side as he sat down on the end of the bed.

This kid was ridiculous in how quiet she was. Barry decided to change topics.

"So um...is this your room?" he asked looking around.

Greta turned to look at him and did not respond. Even though she did not make any motion that indicated anything, Barry got the feeling the answer was yes.

"What is going on here?" he muttered to himself as he turned away from the girl to face the wall behind the bed.

His mind scrambled to make sense of all of this. Was this girl similar to *Mari MaCabe? Did her necklace make her retain youthfulness but she somehow managed to disappear and reappear quickly as a result as the particle accelerator explosion? So many questions and no answers.

"Secret..." Greta said from behind him as if she knew what he was thinking.

Barry sighed wearily and turned around to face her. She gazed at him without emotion. But he could tell she was curious about what he seemed so frazzled. Barry frowned and nervously rubbed the back of neck.

"Please...at least tell me what is going on if you don't want to talk about why you are so young. Why do you keep following me and why do you keep leading people to murder scenes?" he asked.

She did not respond. Instead she glance over at the doorway again when Barry heard rapidly approaching footsteps. Cisco appeared panting and his hair was plastered to his face with sweat even though the air in the bedroom was chilly.

"We should get out of here..." he said trying to catch his breath.

He gave no indication he noticed Greta who was literally standing right in front of him. She glanced back at Barry with a confused expression on her face. Her face silently asked him to speak for her.

"Why?" Barry asked getting to his feet.

"There is some tall and creepy man coming up the stairs...and I'm pretty sure he has a gun or something..." Cisco whispered.

Barry watched as Greta's face (which he noticed really did not show any emotion) turn to worry. She did not exactly frown but her cheekbones tightened.

"How do you know?" he said patiently while keeping an eye on the girl.

She did not move but stayed rooted to the spot as if she were a statue. Her body slightly trembled as if she was remembering something that scared her.

"I-I-I-I'm not sure exactly..." his friend said nervously, "I just got this chill down my back like someone had touched it with an icy hand and I turned around and saw him moving around on the first floor."

Barry wondered if Greta had warned Cisco in her own silent way. But that did not make sense since she had been in the room with him the whole time without moving. So how could she have warned him if she did warn him?

"Then maybe we should get out of here..." Barry said.

He really did not want to confront this man whoever he was in his current clothing. It would be giving his secret identity away.

"Don't you get it? He was almost to the top of the stair when I came in here..." Cisco wailed silently before looking around, "Cool room by the way."

"It's hers..." Barry pointed at Greta who smiled slightly but it was sad in meaning.

He was anxious to have her presence be known that way his friends stop thinking he was losing it. Unfortunately that is exactly what happened after he said it.

"What kid?" Cisco said confused glancing in the direction he was pointing.

Barry bit back a growl of frustration and held his tongue.

"Nothing...let's see if we can make it out the..." he cut himself off when Greta walked over to the closet.

She tentatively reached out a hand and opened the door as if were a hot poker. In the back of it was a small trap door that swung open to expose an opening in the wall. Greta glanced back at him and motioned him and Cisco to go into it.

"Maybe we should take that way..." Barry said pointing.

"Was that there before?" Cisco asked confused.

But all the same he crawled through the narrow opening with Barry. It had a small stone staircase leading down to another room. Barry turned around hoping to help Greta into the passageway but the wooden door slammed shut on him. Cisco jumped from fright and nearly tumbled down the stairs.

"Great...," Barry cursed.

Outside the door he heard someone enter the room they had been in several seconds before. The door handle started jiggling letting them know that whoever was outside was trying to enter.

"I'm guessing the only way out is down..." Cisco muttered looking down the staircase which smelled of mildew, "This is so like a horror movie."

Feeling a prickle on the back of his neck Barry glanced down the staircase and saw Greta at the bottom of it gesturing at them to come quickly. She had pulled her hood on again so it made it hard to make her face out.

"Secret..." she whispered.

" _How the hell did she get there so quick? I did not even see her pass by us..._ " Barry thought now being a little of afraid of the taciturn girl.

All the same he and Cisco hurried down the stairwell which had moss growing all over the steps. Halfway down he realized that it should have been pitch black in the passage; there were no lights on. But somehow there was 'light' that allowed them to see enough to get down safely. Even though it went against every single possible law of logic he defiantly was not complaining.

Cisco let out a startled yelp when a huge rat ran across his foot prompting Barry to clamped his hand on his friend's mouth. A couple feet away from him he saw Greta smile slightly and cover her hand with her mouth. She laughed silently for a few seconds before her face turned serious again. The girl gestured at them to continue to follow her.

"Yeah, yeah we're coming..." Barry muttered crossly uncovering Cisco's mouth.

His friend eyed him worriedly but did not say anything. He trailed behind Barry who in turn was following Greta. She led them into a small basement that was full of clutter; not to mention spider webs.

"Ugh...this is disgusting..." Cisco grimaced as streams of the sticky thread caught on his clothing, "How could Indian Jones stand it?"

Barry did not respond (even though he to was grossed out by the thick gossamer threads) but shouldered his way past a pile of rusted car parts until he found a small clearing by a tiny boarded up window. Greta stood in front of it and silently pointed at it. Barry managed to pry it open and shove Cisco through the opening. Turning around to see if Greta needed help he discovered she had disappeared again.

" _First she helps us escape who knows who and then she disappears...what is with this kid?_ " he thought before wiggling through the tiny window.

As soon as he was through he quickly blocked the opening before whoever was following them. Then both he and Cisco tried to walk down the street as nonchalantly as possible; despite having spider webs trailing behind them like a cape. People kept turning to stare at them to the point Barry thought his face had turned redder than his suit. He mumbled something about preparing for a costume party and tried to get off the main street as quick as possible (without giving his secret away).

"I'm guessing it is safe to think...say whatever...that things can't possibly get worse..." Cisco grinned.

Perhaps it would have been better he did not say that.

* * *

"I'm sorry Bear..." Joe said sadly.

"It's ok..." Barry muttered burying his head in his hands.

There had been another report of a murder. Same conditions to the female victim who was similar in age to the first victim. Barry had just finished analyzing the samples and had no DNA at all left. Whoever was doing this was being extra cautious not to get caught.

"If I get my hands on whoever is doing this it will be to soon..." he growled slamming his hand down on the desk.

A police officer walked in just then. His eyes flickered from Barry to Joe and then back to Barry again. Wondering what the man was looking at Barry glanced down and discovered his hand was halfway through the desk without damaging it. He had accidently started fazing through when he slammed his hand down on it.

"Y-Y-Y-You're j-j-just s-s-s-seeing t-t-t-things..." he stuttered, "B-B-Because my hand is most defiantly not halfway through the desk."

He yanked his hand out and hid it.

"Righttttttttttt..." the officer said rolling his eyes, "Trying to fool me about an impressive illusion trick. Good luck Allen."

Barry had to bend his head to hide his smile. Thank God the man was clearly the type of man who really did not notice anything.

"What do you want Matt?" Joe asked.

"Oh nothing much...just two things I have to tell you." the man said in a board tone before he cracked a grin, "The first thing I came here to tell you was that I think someone must have hit our boss on the head or something."

"What do you mean?" Barry asked looking up.

Matt let out a bark of laughter, "Get this...someone suggested a Halloween party in order to raise money for St. Andrews Hospital. And Singh said yes."

"So?" Joe asked.

"Apparently all the cops have to come dressed as something or someone and people have to guess who they are..." Matt smirked, "And there will food, drinks, and a raffle. All proceeds go to the hospital."

"Sounds like fun..." Barry muttered twirling a pen between his fingers.

But in reality he really did not think it sound like fun. What the hell would he wear? He could not exactly show up in his Flash suit.

Joe glanced at him and then glanced back at Matt, "Um...and the second thing you wanted to tell us?"

"Yeah this one is less fun...Singh needs you for a couple of moments..." Matt sighed, "He told me to come get you. He really can't leave his chair on account of that huge cast he's wearing."

"What did he do?" Barry asked.

"Twisted his ankle going down into the basement..." Matt smirked, "Don't tell him I said that."

Both men left leaving Barry alone in his lab. After a few moments he got up out of his chair with a heavy sigh and started pacing around the room.

" _There is defiantly something connected between these murders and Greta as well as those strange messages...,_ " he thought rubbing the back of his head, " _But what?_ "

Hearing a noise he glanced up in time just see someone leave the room. He could not get a good look at whoever it was. There was something left on the floor where (at least he assumed) the person was standing. Barry walked over and picked up three photographs. All of them were of the strange messages left at the crime scenes. He looked at the most recent one.

 _Three more days to Hallow's Eve_

 _Just four more souls to take_

 _And at Midnight his prison shall break_

 _When that happens all mortals shall fear_ _Harm_

It did not take a rocket scientist (or in this case a CSI assistant) to figure out why the word harm had its first letter capitalized.

 _"Ok then...so guy is using a name now..."_ Barry thought, " _And it is Harm. Not much to go by...but I think I can manage."_

But the heavy feeling in gut made him feel unsure about what might happen if he did not catch whoever this man was.

* * *

 *** Watch the show Vixen to find out what I'm talking about. :) It's on the CW Seed.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi guys :D I'm glad you are enjoying this so far :) Two more chapters to go I think. Sorry it took so long to publish.**

 **Disclaimer: I just own the plot. I own none of the characters.**

 **Hint/Warning: Italics in this represent thoughts and dream scape. The dream is sort of based off of the events in the last episode of season 1 but I changed some things such as the dialogue.**

* * *

Dreams can seem so real sometimes; especially if they are of your past or of your fatal mistakes. After making a connection between with the messages left behind by the murderer Barry had to stop a bank robbery, an armed stolen car robbery, and many other minor crimes non-stop for five hours straight. He began to wonder if all the crooks in Central City thought it was a field day to go rob and pillage. By the time he had rescued about twenty people from a burning building Barry realized it was already eleven o' clock at night. One reason he probably found out was when he tripped over a pot hole when running and slammed into a newspaper stand. After wrenching his broken nose back into it normal position (and struggling to keep his scream of pain contained) and cleaning up the mess he decided it was time to call it a night after hearing the clock at city hall strike eleven.

Barry barely managed to drag himself through Joe's front door before collapsing on his bed already snoring before he hit the pillow. And that was when the nightmare began. It was of the time he traveled back in time to save his mother.

 _He was standing in his old bedroom looking around in wonder at his old room. He saw his fish tank which was half empty and the planet mobile by his window. A sudden scream made him look at the door. Carefully he walked down the stairs and opened the door to see his mother on her knees screaming at a young boy to get back. Yellow and red lightning cackled and hissed as it spun around her._

 _"Barry!" she screamed, "Don't let him touch you."_

 _Taking a deep breath he was about to start forward when one of the blurs came to a stop in front of him. It was a much older man at least in his early forties. He looked exactly like the man who was standing in the door frame except his suit was scarlet red and a white symbol illuminated the background of the yellow lightning bolt._

 _The older man held up a hand and shook his head to send the silent message 'don't'. The man standing in the door way shook his head in as shock as his older self saved his younger self. He backed away from the door way; unable to stand seeing the man in yellow stab his mother in the heart. After he heard the sound of the Reverse Flash fleeing from the scene cursing his luck of not being able to kill his foe as a child did he venture into the room. His father lay off the side with a knife inches away from his hand. His mom laid on the ground crying softly as blood slowly stained her shirt. She was dying...but he could save her._

 _The man walked over to her. His silent footsteps made the woman jerk her head up to look at him._

 _"Where is my son...my husband...are they.."_

 _"They are safe..." he answered trying to keep back his emotions while he bent down to hold her hands, "I promise."_

 _"Who are you?"_

 _'I'm...," the man cut himself off to choke back a sob before saying firmly, "I'm the Flash. I know this won't make any sense...but it is me mom. Its Barry."_

 _He removed his mask to display his face and rumpled brown hair. His eyes were brimming with tears...many of which trickled out and dropped to the ground._

 _"Barry?" his mom asked before she let out a soft cry of amazement, "Oh my beautiful boy."_

 _She reached out and caressed his face as if she feared he would disappear at any moment._

 _"I came back to see if I could save you..." he explained his voice trembling, "And I failed...but I want to let you know that in the future that I am safe...and dad is safe. I'm so sorry I failed to prevent this."_

 _"If this was my destiny then I will except it..." his mother responded letting out a shuttering cough, "Just remember...be a good boy. Follow your heart and nothing will go wrong."_

 _Her hands shook slightly and they started to go limp and fall back to her side. She coughed again as more blood soaked her shirt._

 _"Mom?" he asked his throat constricting._

 _"Goodbye..." she breathed, "Good..."_

 _Her eyes glazed over and she turned her head to her side. The man lifted a trembling hand and stroked her face gingerly. He knew in his heart that she was dead. He had never saved her. And he never would._

 _"Mom?!"_

"Mom!"

Startled awake, Barry shot up from his bed so fast he set the covers on fire. Cursing he swatted the flames out before bowing his head down to bury it in his hands.

" _Just a_ _nother nightmare..."_ he thought grimly.

He got out from under the smoldering covers and wandering into the restroom to take a quick shower. Barry turned the water on so hot that it sent steam billowing up around him and scalded his shoulders. But he really did not care; the burns would heal soon anyways. After a couple of minutes he turned the water off and put on some everyday clothes that were comfortable. Water dripped from his hair and created puddles all over the floor. Glancing up into the mirror Barry was surprised to see how haggard he looked. Black circles were under his eyes and his cheeks looked sunk in. Anyone who did not know about his immunity to germs would probably be asking him if he was sick.

"Barry? Why the hell are you taking a shower at three in the morning?" Joe's voice came in through a crack in the door as he knocked.

Three in the morning? Barry checked his watch and found out that Joe was right. He contemplated phasing through the door to get back into his room before Joe could scold him but decided against it. His adoptive father would probably yell at him for setting the door on fire (which was what happened the first time he tried phasing through the bathroom door; a metal door on a car was entirely different from a wooden one). So he opened the door a crack and looked at Joe sheepisly.

"Sorry Joe..." he mumbled.

"Another nightmare huh?" Joe asked, "You really should be telling your friends about them."

"I already told you...they are probably a side effect of the singularity..." Barry huffed.

"Uh huh..." Joe rolled his eyes before walking back into his bedroom.

Barry stood in the doorway for a couple of minutes before shutting off the light. He crawled back into his bed and fell asleep hoping to find his mother in his dreams. But the rest of the night his dreams were pitch black and fluid.

* * *

"So let me get this straight...there is a murderous psychopath out there that is leaving behind messages of who he might murder next?" Cisco asked.

"Pretty much..." Barry admitted.

He laid the three pictures (now four) down on the table in the cortex in front of his friends. Another murder had occurred this morning but Barry had not been present for it as he had been busy taking care of a building fire in the downtown area. Fortunately he had managed to grab the police photographs and take the one that had a message 'written' on it. All of the messages were talking about some strange 'master'. There had to be a connection between the words.

"You think this guy knows Zoom?" Catlin asked.

Barry shrugged, "Not sure to be honest. Why would Zoom suddenly change his attitude from hell bent killing me to killing innocent people that I don't even know?"

"Good point..." Cisco admitted rubbing his nose.

He frowned as he looked down at the photos. Barry mentally ran through the messages that had been left behind.

Message Number 1 in an alley near Jitters

 _Five more days to all Hallows Eve_

 _And six more souls I shall take_

 _And soon my master's cell shall break_

 _All mortals must beware_

 _For that day will soon come here_

Message number 2 found in a construction zone.

 _Four more days to Halloween_

 _And five more souls I shall take_

 _All mortals now shall quake_

 _For my master will come on Hallow's Eve_

 _When day and night shall break_

Message number 3 found at the wharf

 _Three more days to Hallow's Eve_

 _Just four more souls to take_

 _And at Midnight his prison shall break_

 _When that happens all mortals shall fear_ _Harm_

And the most recent one (number 4) which had been found at an abandoned building along with the deceased victim.

 _Two more days and three more souls_

 _And Master shall rise at the stroke of twelve_

 _I will receive an award for what I've done_

 _To raise Him from his sleep_

"I have to say this guy sucks at rhyming..." Cisco chuckled sitting down in his chair, "Should I nickname him Riddler?"

Barry groaned. That was a pretty lousy nickname for a guy who probably wasn't a Meta-human.

"I'm pretty sure he already named himself..." Catlin smirked.

Cisco pouted realizing she was right, "Harm is a lousy nickname to call yourself."

"Would you three please enlighten me on what is going on here?" Iris asked before he could continue, "Remember I was out of the city for a couple of days..."

She arched an eyebrow when none of them were forthcoming with information.

"Yeah sure.." Barry grunted when her gaze turned on him, "Some lunatic is murdering young girls, taking some of their blood, leaving behind weird messages, and doesn't leave any DNA behind at the scene."

He felt like telling her about the Greta but was uncertain how the she would take it.

"Odd..." Iris said scratching her head thoughtfully, "Considering we are dealing without a lot of crap right now but this defiantly takes first place for weird."

"Not to mention you are losing it officially by claiming to see a girl that no one else can..." Cisco started to say before Barry shot him a dirty look, " _And_ forget what I was just saying."

"Anyways...what should we do?" Catlin asked before Iris could ask Cisco about the 'girl', "I really don't think we should allow another girl to um...be murdered for God knows what."

"What should I do?" Barry asked sarcastically, "Check every single house in Central City for some weird creepy guy standing in front of it?"

He got to his feet and started to pace back and forth in front of his suit. It irritated him that he could do nothing to stop this murder.

"It would be really helpful to have a clue as to where the next murder will be right about now..." Cisco drawled spinning his swivel chair around slightly.

"Hey! We are trying our best..." Joe scowled.

Barry sighed deeply and leaned against the display case. Emotions were so tightly sealed up in him that he did not know how to expel them.

" _Damn it kid..._ " he thought about Greta, " _I know you know something about what the hell is going on here...so why won't you tell us? At least give us a clue._ "

He felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. Startled he turned half expecting to see Greta standing behind him but she wasn't there. But his friends were frowning and shivering.

"Why did the temperature...d-d-d-drop...al-l-l-l-l of a s-s-s-sudden?" Iris shuttered rubbing her arms.

Barry frowned just noticing that the temperature in deed had lowered dramatically. The windows in the cortex had fogged up; which meant that the windows were warmer than the air surrounding them. That was odd because fogged up mirrors and windows occurred the opposite way of what they were doing right now; cold windows and hot air.

"I'm n-n-n-ninety p-p-percent s-s-sure it w-w-wasn't my f-f-fault," Cisco shivered.

After everyone gave him a hard look he grinned sheepishly through chattering teeth, "S-s-s-s-sorry...j-j-j-just t-t-trying t-t-to m-m-m-m-make the m-m-m-mood l-l-l-light."

Barry shook his head at his friend and felt something cold touch his back. He jumped startled and found no one there. But he noticed that one of the fogged up windows had a small patch that was see through and not cloudy. Narrowing his eyes suspiciously he started toward the window. There were four words written on the window by a small finger.

 _5219 Willthrow Avenue_

 _Danger_

"Guys?" he called.

When his friends looked over they noticed the message.

"Ok...can... _someone please_ tell me that we did not just see a message that was not there seconds ago?" Joe pleaded.

Apparently even a seasoned cop could get scared. Not that anyone could blame him.

"I sure wish I could..." Catlin gulped.

"Cisco..." Barry managed to say in a deathly calm voice.

He knew everyone was freaking out right now and couldn't blame them. Whoever had left the message (and he had a sneaking suspicion it was Greta even though he did not see her) had already left but had left behind a chilling reminder of their presence. Pun intended.

"On it man..." Cisco promised racing over to the computer, "Whoa...there was a call for 911 from that area about thirty sec-"

He was cut off by a gust of wind as Barry vanished from the room along with his suit.

"Please tell me he will make it in time..." Joe sighed, "That boy is always late even though he had super speed. Drives Singh bonkers."

"He says that the super tardiness neutralizes it..." Cisco put in, "Or at least according to Ol-err-Green Arrow."

He managed to cut himself before saying Oliver's name knowing the vigilante (even though he had eased up on his pain factor towards criminals) would follow through with his threat in shooting an arrow at him.

"Barry knows the Green Arrow?" Iris arched an eyebrow looking at Catlin.

"Long story..." Catlin shrugged.

* * *

" _Come on...come on_ ," Barry groaned as he zigzagged down the street, " _Please don't let me be late...for once! Come on Barry...focus man. Get there...this is different from being late for work to uphold your secret identity._ "

He phased through a car that suddenly swung into his path and managed to ruin a lady's hairdo just as she exited the barber shop before turning a corner into a residential area. Concerned he wasn't going to make it in time he picked up speed until he was just below the speed of sound. The very air popped when he skidded to a stop in front of the house. The window on the first floor was shattered and glass littered the ground.

"Am I in the right place?" he asked touching the side of his mask.

"Yeah...just be careful man," Cisco cautioned.

As if he wouldn't be.

"And hurry..." Iris added nervously.

Barry smiled wryly even though they couldn't see him. He rushed into the house and came to a stop on the second floor. Everything was quiet. Frowning he raced throughout the entire house. Nothing was missing and no one was in the house. A broken window in the main room on the second floor was evidence that the intruder had fled.

"Damn it...he's not here..." Barry cursed.

He had stopped in one of the rooms which must have been a teenager's room judging by the amount of posters plastered on the walls. Instead of them being of popular band groups they were of science achievements and one was of a diagram of the different parts of an atom. A first place trophy for the Central City Science Fair sat on a table in the corner. It pleased him that the owner was into science as much as he was.

"What about the person who called?" Catlin asked in a watery voice.

"No one is in the house..." Barry huffed, "I checked top and bottom."

That was when he heard something shuffling outside, then a crackling noise and then screaming. He barely had time to rush outside to catch the teenager from hitting the ground; he had to buckle his knees and cradle her in order to match her speed to prevent further injury. Her eyes were literally popping out of her head when she saw who had prevented her from breaking both her legs. She was shaking and in her trembling hands she held a phone. Her wrists were badly chaffed as if she had broken a rope with them.

"You ok?" he asked disguising his voice.

The girl managed to nod her head slightly before she started trembling again. Barry could feel her heart hammering against her chest and worried the girl was going to go into shock.

"I'm going to drop you off at the hospital..." he said getting to his feet, "You're probably uninjured but I still need to get you somewhere safe."

He frowned when he felt something wet drip onto his foot. Glancing down he found it was a red liquid. Barry glanced at the girl who was awkwardly clutching his arm while cradling her right arm close to her chest.

"Let me see it..." he said.

The girl bit her lip and drew back away from him as best she could even though he was holding her; watching him warily.

"Look...everything is going to be ok? Let me just see the wound..." he sighed.

She stared at him for a couple seconds before putting her arm out slowly. He grasped it and looked down at the wound. It was similar to what he had seen on the other murder victims. Deep wound that ran the length of the arm made by a small knife.

"He got you before you escaped out the window?" he asked turning to the girl.

She nodded and managed to croak," H-h-h-he t-t-tied m-m-me u-u-up a-a-a-and c-c-cut m-m-me. I-I-I b-b-broke f-f-free a-a-a-and c-c-crawled o-o-out t-t-the w-w-window. H-h-h-h-he w-w-w-was c-c-c-coming a-a-after m-m-me b-b-before y-y-y-you s-s-showed u-u-up."

"What did he look like?" Barry asked but at this point the girl was shaking so much she was unable to answer.

So he had her wrap her good arm around his neck and he raced her to the hospital.

* * *

 _Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick_

Barry banged his head against the wall of the hospital waiting anxiously for Joe to come out. Five hours had passed and there was no sign of him. It was already early morning for October 31; Halloween.

" _Does it seriously take this long to question someone?_ " he thought glumly.

He perked up as the door opened. Joe stepped out long enough to beckon Barry in before disappearing. Sighing Barry walked into the room and saw the teenager huddled on the hospital bed. Her arm and wrists were bandaged with white tape. She glanced up when he entered and quickly looked away from him.

"Kid is scared stiff by whoever attacked her..." Joe breathed into Barry's ear, "Nurses say she hasn't slept a wink since the Flash brought her in. "

He called Barry by his code name as the girl was in earshot.

"Did you or her parents get anything out of her?" Barry questioned back.

Joe sighed, "Barely anything...I figured since you are bit friendlier looking than me or them you could ask her."

One of the disadvantages of looking younger than you really were.

"Gee thanks..." he grumbled.

He sat down in one of the nearby chairs by the hospital bed with Joe. After he didn't say anything his adoptive father elbowed him in the ribs hard.

"Um...-cough-..." Barry cleared his throat awkwardly, "So your name is Veronica?"

The girl nodded slowly and rubbed her bandaged arm. She swallowed hard.

"Can you tell me what you like?" he asked.

Damn he should have become a physiatrist.

"Science..." the girl responded hoarsely.

"Yeah...I figured as much. Joe told me about the amount of posters you had in your room," Barry gave her a slight smile trying to coax her out of her shell and give them the information they needed.

She gave him a grave smile back but didn't say anything else.

"Look...I don't know if you know about the rash amount of murders occurring right now..." he started, "But the man who attacked you...we think he is the one responsible. Can you please tell us what happened?"

Veronica took a deep shuttering breath. Barry expected her to say something but when she didn't he asked gently, "We'll make sure nothing happens to you. The police force will contact the...um...Flash if necessary. In fact right now he is out there looking for the murderer."

The girl turned her head to look out the window across from her as if hoping to catch a glimpse of the famed red blur.

"And he needs to know who to look for..." Barry continued.

He swallowed hard and mentally cursed himself for even bothering to stay in the hospital in the first place. He glanced down at his feet and waited for a response. One minute passed, then two...then three.

"Alright..." Barry looked up when he heard the girl speak, "Alright I will tell you."

Joe shot Barry a quick grin before his face turned serious again.

"What can you tell us?" he asked.

Veronica looked at the two of them moistened her lips before saying, "I was at home...alone. My mom was out shopping while I got some homework done."

Her face fell and she glanced at her bandaged wrists before continuing, "Thirty minutes after she left was when I heard a window on the first floor shatter. Before I could even run to get a phone...a man entered the room. He must have knocked me out or something because I came to ducked taped to a chair. He started talking to me."

Here the girl paused and she fell silent.

"What did he tell you?" Barry asked.

The girl shook her head in confusion, "I-I-I-I can't really remember exactly what he said but it was something along the lines of 'your blood shall be my key to unlocking Beowulf's sword'. Then he took a dagger out from somewhere and slashed it down the length of my arm."

She paused again and swallowed hard, "H-H-H-He then put the knife up to my throat. Before he could...kill me the phone rang. It was my mother calling me to see how I was doing. He walked over and silenced the phone. While he was doing that I broke the bonds on my arms and pretended to still bonded up."

So that was why her wrists were chafed,

"Smart...where did you learn how to break through duck tape?" Joe asked evidently pleased.

Veronica smiled slightly, "My uncle works for the CIA. He picked up a whole lot things in training."

"Continue..." Barry put in.

The girl nodded, "He stopped in front of me and drove the dagger down. I managed to dive to the side and the knife ended up in the chair. While he was struggling to remove it I fled from the room -grabbing a phone along the way- and dialed 911. I managed to make it up to my bedroom and kick the screen on my window down. I crawled out onto the roof and held onto the rain gutter. H-h-h-he entered the room but cursed and left when he heard police sirens."

She bit her lip before continuing, "Then a few moments later someone else entered my room. A gust of wind almost made me lose my grip on the gutter but I managed to hold onto it. I heard the bolts coming undone and I fell. The next thing I knew I was on the ground -not dead- and the Flash was asking me a couple of questions. I'm embarrassed to say I couldn't say much on account of blood loss and shock. Then I ended up here and that's all I can tell you."

"That's plenty..." Joe said, "Now can you describe this man to us?"

Veronica shuttered before answering, "Yes...he had long brown hair tied into a pony tail, cold brown eyes, jeans, brown shoes, a jacket that was open displaying his chest -gross-, and on his right eye he had three blue scars etched into his face. They were puffy and looked liked someone attempted to claw his eyes out."

Joe shot Barry a triumphant look before getting to his feet, "Thank you miss. We'll make sure we'll get him."

Barry gave the girl one more quick smile before exiting the room. He was happy. Now they might have a chance to catch whoever this guy was before he murdered someone again.


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's another lovely chapter for you guys :) And this may be the second last one after all...not sure however :/ Anyways enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.**

* * *

"ALLEN!"

Barry shot up from slumping over to see his co-workers looking at him horrified and concerned. His boss on the other hand looked down-right annoyed.

"Did you not hear what I was telling you right now?" Captain Singh asked.

"Sorry..." Barry winced.

He pinched his arm in order to shake off the sleepiness that had over-come him. After the hospital trip he only got a half an hour of sleep in before having to be roused by Cisco who was warning him of a grocery store robbery. Only after taking care of the three robbers did Barry get some sleep; very restless sleep.

" _As_ I was saying..." Singh continued, "Thanks to the only surviving witness of these rash murders we now have a description of the suspect. There has been a city wide alert of this man."

He held up a picture of the suspect. Unfortunately they had been unable to find out the man's name.

"And what if we find squat?" one of the cops asked.

"We'll find him..." Singh bobbed his head while setting the picture down, "Joe informed me that the Flash is also contributing to the search effort."

Mummers started up and Barry really wanted to leave at this point. He felt uncomfortable when people talked about his alter ego.

"That's enough..." Singh sighed after a while," Now about the preparations for the party that someone- and I won't mention who- talked me into... Any ideas Ry-"

He cut himself off when he noticed someone was missing. It just so happened to be that very man who nearly took a siesta while standing.

"Where the hell did Allen go?"

"Guess he hates parties..." snickered a cop named Raymond.

Unnoticed outside the window a red blur was heading in the direction of S.T.A.R Labs. It just so happened that the picture of the suspect had disappeared from the Captain's desk with a messy note left behind explaining that it borrowed. The tell tale lightning bolt symbol written at the bottom told who had taken it.

* * *

"You actually managed to finally find out what this creepy guy looks like?" Cisco asked.

He held the picture at-far as if it were a dead rat and frowned.

"I really don't think it was worth staying up five hours in a hospital to get..." Barry muttered, "Or potentially getting fired for taking it from the police station...even though I _did_ leave a note from the 'Flash'."

Iris elbowed him hard in the ribs, "Oh come on...you still got ten hours of sleep in."

He sighed response and started pacing anxiously as Cisco started typing in commands into the computer. He really wanted to find whoever this guy was; on account that he could strike again and then wake whoever it was he was trying to raise.

" _And what did he mean by Beowulf's sword?_ " Barry thought to himself.

Catlin seeing him looking irritated asked, "Ok what are you thinking about now?"

He waved her concern off with his hand and said, "Nothing...just something that the girl Veronica told me about what the man said."

He really needed to work on controlling his emotions on his face.

"Which was?" Iris asked.

"According to the witness she said that the man said that her blood was the key to unlocking 'Beowulf's sword'," Barry sighed.

"But Beowulf is just a myth," Catlin said logically.

"Um...maybe not..." Barry said uneasily.

He walked over to the table and rested his hands on the chair to steady himself.

"What makes you say that?" Iris asked.

At this point he really wanted to tape his mouth shut.

"Alright..." Barry swallowed hard before explaining wishing the whole time he never brought the supposedly made-up sword to light, "A few months before the singularity Oli-erm...I mean the Arrow and I traveled to Detroit to confront a potential Meta-Human-"

"Whom you never got her phone number off of..." Cisco grumbled while still typing.

"-Who displayed powers that we had never seen before in a Meta..." Barry continued.

"Which were?" Iris asked raising an eyebrow.

Barry sighed before answering, "Let's just say super-speed, super-strength, invisibility, wall-climbing and flight were some of them."

Cisco grinned, "I wish I could have seen that!"

"And your point is?" Catlin asked ignoring her friend's comment.

"The point is she got all her powers out of necklace around her neck," Barry answered, "An Anansi totem to be more specific. Or at least I think it was one."

He was not really good at remembering artifacts but he did managed to remember enough of the details of the necklace to look it up online.

"What is an Anansi totem?" Iris asked.

"In African myth it was a necklace given to the tribes by the god Anansi that allowed them to receive the powers of any animal..." Barry swallowed hard before answering," And myths are supposedly made up right? Then how come this necklace was able to do the things that was said in the myth when the story was supposedly made up?"

No one had a logical answer for that one.

"Which means that it is possible Beowulf's sword is real..." he concluded, "Which means magic is real to...and I am _still_ having a hard time wrapping that around my head."

His piece said he went right back to pacing back and forth.

"So maybe I should build some gun that detects magic..." Cisco said sarcastically while half-joking.

"Like what...energy spikes?" Catlin snorted.

Cisco shrugged, "Don't ask me...I haven't gotten my magician's license yet..."

Before Catlin could bop her friend on the head the power went out. Barry glanced up and frowned. Something did not seem right.

"Guys?" he asked walking to stand behind his friends at the computer desk.

"Don't know dude...even the high tech security system is out..." Cisco cursed.

He started typing a command into the computer. Barry was too busy watching him that when he caught a flicker of motion of the corner of his eye he reacted too late. The last thing he could recall before something heavy hit him in that back of his head was Iris screaming. And then all he could remember was darkness.

 **I KNOW, I KNOW, I KNOW! DO NOT KILL ME! This chapter is short but the next one (and the last one) will be longer. I had to cut it off here otherwise it wouldn't make any sense!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I updated this one quickly since the Halloween deadline is coming up. Please R &R and enjoy the last chapter!**

* * *

Barry woke up to a pounding headache. Like a major headache. An even worse headache than the time he blacked out after nearly having all his oxygen deprived from being choked by Atom-Smasher.

" _I guess this is what is like to be hung-over..._ " Barry thought grimily, " _Which makes actually makes me like the fact I can't get drunk if this is result afterwards_."

He tried standing up but froze when he felt a heavy weight attached to his back as well as his legs starting to give out. So he decided to stay in a sitting position to avoid toppling over like a drunk. Frowning he tried shifting his arms and found they were bond with duct tape. He tried shifting his head but when a wave of pain flared from the top of his head to the crock of his neck he decided not to move his head. As it was it was too dark to see anything.

He made do with the limited amount of motion he was able use his right elbow to probe whatever as strapped to his back. He recoiled when the object he touched was warm and it moved. Cisco groaned but did not wake up. Instead he leaned back making Barry fall flat on his chest with dead weight on his back. He groaned and tried to roll over but to no avail.

"Mmh umlot...Cis..." Barry mumbled.

He cut himself off realizing he had duct tape slapped against his mouth prohibiting his speech.

" _Great..._ " he thought, " _I can't free myself without potentially injuring or worse killing Cisco and who knows what happened to Iris and Catlin. Let's hope Joe decides to come into S.T.A.R Labs to check up on us."_

All the same he tried loosening his hands but the pain intensified with each movement he made. Eventually he stopped when he started to gasp for breath through his nose wishing he could remove the damn tape off his mouth so he could breath properly. Stars swarmed in front of his eye and he blinked furiously to clear them. While trying to clear his eyesight he noticed that they were stuck in the janitor closet at S.T.A.R Labs. His eyesight had finally adjusted to the darkness. How he knew they were stuck in a closet? There was a grainy image of broom threatening to topple over on him if he got up suddenly.

That was when he heard the closet door open and light spilled in. He blinked again; this time to adjust his eyes to the sudden light change. Who he saw in the entrance surprised him.

Greta was standing there looking at him with the hood on her sweater up and covering her face. She did not say anything and reached out. Barry couldn't help but flinch as she reached for him. She paused and gave him a look that said 'R _eally? I'm trying to help you stupid'_ before grabbing the duct tape before he could _try_ to say anything and wrenching it off his mouth.

It came off quickly along with a couple layer of skin on his lips.

"Ouch!" Barry yelped.

Wincing he ran his tongue against his lips in order to sooth the stinging pain. Glancing up he saw Greta was standing there with her head cocked to the side.

"Never thought I would be happy to see you..." he muttered.

She stepped out of the doorway and vanished.

"Hey...wait!" he called.

Grunting he managed to roll onto his side in order to pull his arms in front of him and vibrate them through the duct tape binding him. Once he was free he started helping Cisco out. His friend came to as soon as the last piece of tape was unwound from his legs.

"Ugh..." Cisco groaned touching his head gingerly, "What the frack happened? I feel like I had a car sitting on me."

"You were actually the one sitting on me..." Barry said patiently while wadding the duct tape up in a wad.

He tossed it to the side and rubbed his forehead. The pain had faded letting him know his super-healing had already kicked in.

"Are we...in the janitor's closet?" Cisco peered as if nearsighted around their 'prison'.

"Unfortunately...whoever it was broke in to the lab knocked us out and I think took Catlin and Iris," Barry sighed heavily while helping his friend to his feet, "Five bucks says its the guy we are after."

He had a really bad feeling it was the man. Call it a gut instinct if you want.

"DO NOT BET!," Cisco muttered rubbing his nose which had dried blood caked on it, "It was the guy..."

"H-h-h-h-how can you be certain?" Barry stammered.

"Duh...I _saw_ him..." his friend rolled his eyes, "After he smacked you in the head with a PVC pipe he came after me. I managed to punch him in the eye before he knocked _me_ out. So we will be able to tell who he is with a big ol' black eye on his face."

Barry smirked. Apparently the murderer did not unscathed after all. But a black eye would be nothing compared to what might happen to him if he harmed Iris or Catlin when Barry got to him.

"So um...who freed us?" Cisco asked, "Because I have a feeling you didn't at first due to the fact we _were_ tied together..."

"Come on..." Barry said quietly pushing his friend towards the door.

He really did not want to say that Greta did it on account his friend might a have field day teasing him about it. Walking into the cortex they could see it was trashed. Papers were everywhere and tables and chairs were overturned. There were two spots of blood on the tile floor in two different places.

"That's where he bashed you and that's were he bashed me..." Cisco said pointing to the individual areas, "Your head wound already healed..."

"I don't care about that..." Barry said impatiently, "Do you think you can get them up on the security camera somewhere?"

"Already done..." his friend smirked while typing.

His face suddenly paled and he stood up rigid. His bottom lip started quivering and he started shaking slightly.

"Cisco?" Barry asked worriedly.

His friend wordlessly pointed behind him. Glancing in that direction Barry spotted Greta looking at them curiously.

"Who...what...how?" Cisco stuttered before finally spitting out," WHO THE HECK IS THAT GIRL BECAUSE I AM NINETY THREE PERCENT SURE SHE WAS NOT THERE A SECOND AGO AND SHE IS REALLY IS SCARING ME TO THE CORE..."

Greta stared at him quietly. She did not move, she did not blink; only the slight rise and fall of her chest let them know that she wasn't made of wax. Again it was eerie about how she could stay so still for so long.

"That's the girl I was telling you about. The one who lead us to that first murder as well as other the other ones," Barry said slightly relieved that his friend finally believed him and could actually see Greta as well, "The one I supposedly I could only see..."

"Seems like I owe you an apology..." Cisco muttered.

Then he grinned at the girl, "Say kid...what's your name?"

"Secret..." Greta answered quietly.

"Wait...is that your real name or do you not want to tell us your real..." Cisco started.

"Her real name is Greta...she um...doesn't say much..." Barry interrupted.

He shivered when the girl walked up closer to them. She seemed to give off a cool temperature around her as she moved.

"I think she's a Metahuman..." Cisco said thoughtfully seeing Barry shiver, "She can lower the temperature around her and according to you can teleport."

Greta did not say anything but fixed her glittering pale green eyes on Barry's. It seemed that she wanted to tell him something

He looked right back at her and managed to asked without fear, "What is it? Do you want to tell me something?"

She nodded slightly before saying, "Secret..."

Then she traced a lightning bolt symbol in the air before pointing to Barry and saying again, "Secret."

He couldn't help it. Barry stumbled back from her as if she had suddenly produced a cold-gun and pointed it at him. Cisco put his rapid thoughts into words for him.

"How does she know you are the Flash?" he choked.

"I don't know..." Barry glanced back at his friend before turning back to Greta who was watching him, "Who are...what are you exactly?"

"Secret..." was all the girl said.

"Alright...can I just ask you one thing?' Barry asked, "This man...is he planning to murder Iris and Catlin at midnight?"

Greta nodded slowly making his heart clench.

"And...can you tell us where he is right now?" Barry pleaded.

She just slowly shook her head sadly. Then she stepped out of the cortex and vanished. Cisco and Barry did not even bother to follow her. It was no use to have her talk because she wouldn't.

* * *

"Some party..." Cisco grinned.

He held up a small glass that was halfway full of a bright pink punch. Barry rolled his eyes and checked his watch. It read 11:25 pm. The fundraiser party was in full swing. Lights danced along the ceiling and streamers covered the ground. Almost all the police were dressed up. He saw a couple of them dressed with Flash merchandize from the Flash Day (which he really hated on account he did not disserve it) and one was dressed up as a Martian. Patty was wearing a dress and was busy trying to eat a sandwich without dripping mayo and mustard on it. Barry on the other hand was just wearing everyday clothing and was holding his backpack which contained his suit.

"That's because you drank all the punch..." Captain Singh grumbled, "And what the heck are you suppose to be?"

Cisco was wearing a T-shirt that had two orcas with light sabers (blue and red) on the ends of their snouts dueling each other. A really weird way to depict Star Wars in Barry's opinion.

"A engineer who has a part time job working for the Metahuman taskforce and part time works at S.T.A.R Labs helping the Flash take down criminals..." Cisco smirked.

Captain Singh rolled his eyes and disappeared into the crowd.

"I don't think our boss likes us much..." Cisco said mournfully looking down at his punch before drinking the rest of it.

"Maybe its because you drank all his punch he made..." Barry teased.

His phone rang and he answered it. It was Joe.

"Its time...I hope you can bring her home..." was all he said.

"Joe you know I will..." Barry promised, "Just concentrate on finding the man responsible and I will concentrate on finding them..."

His adoptive father sighed heavily before hanging up. Barry placed the phone in his pocket and looked up at Cisco.

"Let's go man..."

* * *

"When did you build this thing and what is it?" was all Barry could say when he met Cisco at the rendezvous point.

He had changed into his Flash suit and prepared to walk with his friends through the street until they found Catlin and Iris. At least it was Halloween so people wouldn't be too surprised to see him.

"I modified this puppy to pick up abnormal energy waves..." his friend grinned avoiding the first question entirely, "And so far it has been pretty effective."

"You do realized Greta will probably show and just lead us..." Barry grumbled.

"Doubt it..." Cisco chuckled, "She is not even-"

He then shrieked as if he sat on a pin cushion and leaped away from his position nearly dropping his gun in the process. Barry prepared to rush forward but relaxed when he saw it was their little silent friend; but only slightly as she was wearing the hood up on her sweater obscuring her face.

"YOUCH! What the hell kid? You _like_ putting icy cold fingers on people's backs?!" Cisco cursed rubbing his back furiously, "It felt like the time I fell into a kiddie pool full of drinks and ice at a party!"

Barry smiled slightly and lowered his head to hide his smile. Greta on the other hand frowned at Cisco and did not respond. She just impatiently used her arm to have them follow her. Cisco followed first holding the 'energy gun' at his side grumbling silently and then Barry followed. He wished desperately he could just rush ahead but knew that Greta was probably the only who knew the way there if Cisco's 'energy detecting' gun failed.

They walked silently for a time.

"Hey! Give that back you moron!"

Barry turned his head and caught sight of a little girl trying to tug her candy bag away from an older teen with a nose stud. His buddy stood next to him snickering. Behind the little stood a boy about sixteen. He looked worried and uncertain about what to do.

"What cha going to sweetie?" the teen who was trying to grab the candy bag sneered, "Punch me?"

"No!" the little girl scowled, "I'll have my older brother Max beat you up."

"Allie...maybe we should just let them have the candy bag...I'll make sure that we visit the houses again..." the boy named Max said nervously.

He took a step back when the nose studded teen and his friend stepped up to him.

"I'm guessing you're Max..." the nose studded teen snickered.

"Leave us alone Fred..." Max sighed, "Bully me at school...fine. But keep your hands off my sister."

"You're a chicken..." Fred's friend chimed in.

Both of the older teens then jumped the younger boy and started beating him up. The little girl Allie screamed and used her newly freed candy bag to whack the two boys on their head. They remained unfazed...even by her insults.

"Drop dead you eggheads! No one is allowed to beat my brother up but me!" she shrieked as she punched and kicked.

"Barry..." Cisco said warningly but by this point Barry had had enough.

He rushed up to the two teens and yanked them off the younger boy, "That is enough you two."

Both of the boys shrugged him off and turned to him with sneers.

"What are you going to do buddy?" Fred asked, " _Nice_ costume by the way..."

His friend snickered nastily. Barry frowned at them and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He was easily several feet taller than the two but that still didn't stop them from not backing down.

"Oh I don't know...maybe rush you down the police station for beating this boy up?" Barry said with deadly calmness pointing to Max.

The boy glanced up at him holding his bleeding nose between his two fingers. Allie looked at him wide eyed and mouth agape.

"Ha! Hate to break it to you buddy but almost all of Central is dressed up as the Flash tonight..." Fred chortled flickering out a switchblade, "So what are ya going to do tough guy? Call 911? By then we'll be long gone by then."

"Yeah..." his friend chimed in.

At this point Barry was annoyed and barely managed to keep his anger in check, "If I were you...I'd leave. _Now_."

Fred scowled at him, "Make me want-to-be...you are unarmed but I am not."

Before the teen could even blink Barry had taken the knife away from him and was holding it in his hands inspecting the blade.

"Nice knife kid..." he smirked pressing the blade back into its storage position, "To bad it is the one the police have been searching for as a result of a stabbing about a month ago."

Both of the teens had turned pale and they started backing away slowly.

"You're...you're..." Fred stammered.

He couldn't even finish the sentence let alone the thought.

"Three second head-start," Barry grinned tossing the knife to the ground at his feet, "I'll count."

Both teens started hotfooting it out of there not daring to look back. They hadn't even gone three feet before Barry rushed them and with a swirl of gold and red had them handcuffed to the nearest telephone pole. As they both struggled to free themselves Barry glared down at them.

"Let this be a warning you to...next time I'll make sure I drop you off at the police station with a nice note explaining why I did. The police always go on patrol here in the morning but I'll make sure they come earlier _especially_ for you two."

He then turned and ran back over to Max who was still lying on the floor looking dazed. His little sister Allie was still staring at Barry; mouth agape.

"You're the real..." Max started.

"Yeah kid..." Barry sighed.

He bent down and help the kid to his feet as well as brushing the dirt off him.

"Do me a favor and make sure to drop a note off at the station if those two continue to bother you..." Barry said picking up the little girl's candy bag and handing it to her.

Max only managed to nod slightly as he was still in shock from actually meeting and talking to the Flash.

The little girl grinned at Barry before she turned to her older brother, "Come on Max...I better get you out of here before you ask him to sign your running shoes."

"Allie!" the boy complained.

"Um...Flash?"

Barry turned to see Cisco motioning at him franticly.

"Got to go kids...err...saving the city stuff..." Barry said, "Make sure your careful out there."

He rushed off before the kids could say anything. He made a point of stopping for a split second in front of Cisco and motioning for him to meet in a nearby doorway.

"Kid disappeared..." Cisco complained tottering up to Barry nearly five minutes later.

"She's right behind you..." Barry smirked pointing to Greta.

She bowed her head slightly before glancing up at them.

"Now I can see why you got annoyed with her..." his friend grumbled.

Greta tugged gently at Barry's arm before running down the street. She was actually pretty fast.

"Come on..." Barry grabbed Cisco's arm and started tugging his friend down the street.

They tracked the light-footed girl for about five blocks before she vanished again. And it just so happened to be in front of the house that they had visited days before hand.

"Please don't tell me she did not go into there..." Cisco complained as he stopped to catch his breath.

Even though Barry made sure he went slower than he usually would the running for five blocks straight still made his friend gasp for breath. Several times he asked to take a break which never happened as Greta would glance back at them to make sure they were following her.

"I think she did..." Barry said crouching down by the dilapidated fence that separated the front yard from the backyard.

There was a big gaping hole at the bottom of the fence that was big enough to crawl through; but barely. Barry went first and only managed to tug Cisco through the hole as his friend insisted on bringing the energy gun.

"Whoa...dude..." Cisco breathed pointing to his invention.

It was making a humming noise and a meter on the top of it was in the red zone. Barry frowned and looked around the small backyard. There wasn't much except for a stunted apple tree. Its branches were twisted and bare. It looked like a clawed hand reaching for the stars.

"Where did you go kid?" Barry asked quietly mostly to himself.

"Mmm!"

He jerked his head into the direction of the noise and saw Iris and Catlin in the corner of the yard bonded together. Both at them were looking at them with relief and happiness.

"Iris? Catlin?" he asked not believing it.

Greta had lead them to them after all.

"I got them..." Cisco yelped before Barry could move.

He pulled out some car keys and started using the jagged ends of them to start cutting through the thick rope that bonded the two women together. Barry uncomfortably kept watch. Eventually his eyes adjusted to the light and he noticed a small pale form standing a couple feet away from him.

"Greta?" he asked cautiously walking toward it.

Kneeling down he found it was small piece of wood. Inscribed on the pale wood in well worn letters were four words.

 _Greta Hayes_

 _Beloved Sister_

Before Barry could even register what was happening a glowing form appeared coming out of the grave. He yelped and fell flat on his butt. He backed up away as the glowing form solidified into a girl wearing a white hood. She pulled the hood down and looked at him sadly. Barry was only half conscious of his friends coming up behind him and looking shocked at what they had just seen.

"T-t-t-this i-i-is y-y-your grave?" he managed stammer out.

Greta turned her head away from him and trembled slightly. This explained how she was able to vanish so quickly, why she was so cold, and why she wouldn't let anyone touch her.

"So you were not losing it after all..." Catlin muttered.

"A ghost...a legit...ghost..." Cisco whimpered.

The energy gun rattled as his hands shook.

"H-h-h-h-how did you die?" Barry heard Iris ask softly.

Greta looked up at them her eyes glittering slightly. She held her hands out in front of her and a glowing holograph of a knife appeared floating above her hands.

"That's the knife being used in the murders..." Barry realized.

Before he could make further comment he felt something grab him and wrap itself around him. It yanked him off his feet and left him dangling above the ground several feet in the air. He heard screams and looking in the direction of the noise found that his friend had been grabbed as well. Catlin and Iris where on the ground struggling to free themselves from some tree roots that had pinned them to the ground. As he watched the roots continued to snake their way up their feet.

"Iris!" he called, "Catlin?"

Both were unable to answer as they were too busy trying to free themselves.

"N-n-n-not c-c-c-cool m-man..." Cisco shouted as one of the branches of the apple tree dangled him upside down, "N-n-n-not c-c-cool a-a-at all!"

He had dropped the energy gun which was emitting a shrieking noise as if it was going to explode. Hearing footsteps step on the fragile leaves that littered the ground Barry managed to twist his head to look down to see a man stocking towards them. It was the man in the photograph; the one in Greta's old room. Within reason he should have been thirty; yet he looked eighteen.

"How dare you disturb Harm's sacred place..." the man snarled.

He held a gleaming sword in his hands and he used the point of it to lift Cisco's head up. He whimpered unheroically.

"I would have expected the fastest man alive to have better...friends..." 'Harm' commented mockingly dropping Cisco's head.

Barry said nothing but glared at the man venomously.

"Well?" the man purred turning to him.

Harm had the three blue claw marks the girl had described. His left eye was slightly swollen; a token of the first encounter with Cisco. But the weirdest thing was where his heart was a glowing swirling circle.

"You murdered your sister...' Barry said thickly, "Why?"

He glanced around and found that Greta was no where in sight. She had vanished.

"She was the only thing Harm loved..." the man said swishing the gleaming sword around, "In order to unlock Beowulf's sword one must be pure of heart."

"Or in your case pure evil..." Iris muttered.

She didn't flinch when Harm pointed the sword under her chin to lift her head up.

"My aren't you lovely..." the man smirked, "To bad in order for me to gain immortality I will have to kill you and your friend."

Barry started struggling to free himself. He managed to snap the branches off and started falling to the ground. But he didn't reach it. He found himself floating several feet off it.

"You are lucky I do not have full strength yet Flash..." Harm growled.

He flickered his free hand and an invisible force made Barry go flying back into the wall. His ribs sang with pain when he collided with the wooden fence on the far side of the yard. He groaned and tried to move but the force kept him pinned him to the fence.

"Oh come on...why do the evil Metahumans always get the cool powers," Cisco complained as the tree branches bounced him up and down, "Like telekinesis for example..."

Harm flickered a smirk at him," Oh this isn't a result from the Particle Accelerator explosion...but from magic."

"Called it..." Barry managed to choke out.

He watched helplessly as the man stalked towards Greta's grave and then started pacing back over to Iris. She looked at him definitely. Harm swung the sword back and Catlin screamed. What happened next shocked everyone.

The sword did not impale its intended target; Iris. Instead it was lodged in Greta's form. She had somehow materialized in front of Iris just before the sword had struck her and instead had the weapon hit her instead. Greta frowned at her brother but she did not appear to be hurt in any way.

"No...it can't be...it must be illusion..." Harm stammered.

He stumbled back away from the girl who slowly advanced towards him reaching out with a pale hand.

"G-g-g-get back!" he yelped.

He held the sword towards as if hoping to ward her off.

"Forget it...," Barry wheezed as the pressure on his chest started to weaken, "Your secret is out."

"Harm's not sorry..." Harm started to say as his sister continued to walk towards him, "I'm not!"

Greta passed through the blade and it emitted a low humming noise as she continued towards her brother. She reached her hand into his chest and yanked out the glowing ball out of his heart. Harm cried out in pain and fell to his knees shuttering. He looked up helplessly at his sister who had taken a step away from him; the glowing circle swirling above her hand.

"No!" he cried lunging for her.

But it was too late. Greta closed her hand the glowing circle dissipated. Four individual glowing circles shot up into the air and disappeared.

" _The four souls..._ " Barry realized.

Harm struggled to pick the sword up from the ground. It started to glow and yanked itself free from his grasp. It floated several feet above the ground before disappearing with a loud explosion and a bright flash of light. The invisible pressure surrounding Barry disappeared and he tumbled to the ground. The tree branches released Cisco and he belly flopped to the ground with a yelp.

Catlin and Iris managed to yank their feet free from the tree roots.

"You ok?" Barry asked in a low voice to them.

"Fine...now don't you have someone else to take care of?" Iris smirked.

Barry nodded and turned to Harm who was seething. As he watched the man yanked out a small dagger; the one responsible for the murders. He raised it up and slashed at Greta. The blade passed harmless through her throwing off beams of light each time it passed through her. Disgusted Barry rushed at him and punched the man right in the jaw. Harm crumpled to the ground and the dagger spun out of his reach. As they watched he aged into a thirty year old man.

"Can someone explain to me what just happened?" Cisco asked.

No one could. Barry quickly used some of the flexible tree roots to tie the man up; since there was no rope. He stared down at the man who was responsible for all those deaths and sighed. He had caught the murderer but he also had found out ghosts existed. Not really the everyday situation he dealt with...

"Barry?" Catlin asked softly.

Glancing up he noticed Greta was walking back over to her shallow grave. Coming to a stop on top of it she bent her head down and looked right at Barry silently asking him for something. He walked up respectfully to where she was standing and gave her a small smile.

"I'll make sure you get a proper burial..." he promised.

For a moment Greta stared at him. Then a smile covered her face; the first one he had ever seen out of her.

"Secret..." she said.

And then she sunk down into the grave and vanished. The whole backyard was washed with a chill before it faded.

"I don't believe it...who could do that to their own sister?" Catlin asked in shock.

Barry slowly shook his head unable to answer. Police sirens in the distance started to grow louder.

"I don't know about you guys but we better get out of here..." Cisco chuckled nervously as he picked up the energy gun, "I think we kind of scared the crap out of everyone in the neighborhood after that sword exploded."

Barry chuckled and prepared to get his friends out of the creepy backyard. Then he heard Iris.

"Barry...you have got to see this."

He walked over to his friend who was standing at the end of the backyard by the wooden fence. She indicated a small hole in the rotten wood. Peering through it he saw a store across the street; its sign was a green fluorescent color: _Antiques and Secrets_.

The only word that glowed on the sign was one; Secret.

"Must have been the last thing she saw...before she died..." Iris said hoarsely.

Barry could only nod grimly. How awful. But it also explained why Greta could not say anything else.

He stood there for a couple of minutes before straightening up and saying, "Come on...lets get out of here."

* * *

The next day, Barry watched as the police exhumed Greta's body and covered it with a small white sheet. He felt numb inside and it took a couple of minutes to respond when Joe walked up to his side.

"So from I what I am hearing from our friends this girl's ghost told you about her murder?" Joe asked.

Barry nodded, "Yeah...I can't believe that her own brother did this to her."

His adoptive father could not say anything to that. He only patted Barry on the shoulder and walked off to talk to Singh. Patty who was busy scribbling notes down glanced up at him and gave him a small smile before turning back to her boss; their boss.

Barry looked at the ground and scuffled it with his feet. He was saddened by what had happened here twelve years ago. And seeing an actual ghost brought back memories of the night he failed to save his mom a second time. Before he could contemplate it anymore his phone rang. Answering it he found it was Cisco.

"Drug store robbery..." his friend said, "And I'm pretty sure its those two punks you stopped yesterday."

Barry flickered a small smile, "I'll be right there."

After glancing around he took off. As he ran down the street with buildings streaming past him he thought about his mom. And in a way...what he did was in honor of her.

 **And done...I hope you enjoyed this! Please R &R!**


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